The one where Yuzu goes to Hogwarts
by NovaZeroZero
Summary: Harry Potter AU ! Yuzu/Mei, Matsuri/Harumi. Yuzu transfers to Hogwarts and meets her step sister for the first time. /No characters included from Harry Potter.
1. Chapter 1

Author's notes:

I got this prompt for Harry Potter AU from Sappho82 (Go read her fics if you haven't yet, awesome stuff)

Here it is.

This story will not include any major characters from Harry Potter books/movies/etc. Possibly none.

Oh and for those who are not familiar with all the HP terminology, '_no-maj' _is the US equivalent for '_muggle'_

* * *

"I'll be just fine, Mama! You're late for work, get going! See you at Christmas!" Yuzu flashed her mother a huge smile and waved.

_Now… Let's see, I need a trolley to move all this stuff._

Yuzu spotted a row of trolleys, ran to grab one and returned to her mountain of luggage. She was starting a new school year, transferring to a new school and had packed the whole arsenal of everything essential for impressing her new school mates. She was particularly excited because she had just turned 17, only one year of studies left before she was free as a bird to pursue whatever career she wanted.

Yuzu had moved to London with her mother a month ago, her mother had fallen in love on her business trip overseas, they had gotten married in Paris on a super romantic trip shortly afterwards. This all came as a surprise to Yuzu when her she returned home from her school year at the prestigious Ilvermorny, the magic school they had back in the US. At first she was devastated by all the things she would be leaving behind; she had to drop her dear subscription to WickedWitchWeekly, _the best_ fashion oriented newsletter there was for any witch who cared about their appearances. She also found out that they wouldn't have her favourite DarkRoast-CitrusRoot-MorningDew-Latte she always got from the school's coffee shop in the morning before the classes - she cried for two whole days.

When the bitter shock subsided, she started to see things in a more positive light. Moving to a new country would be exciting, getting new friends and tons of new life experiences, she stopped feeling so sad about moving. Her friends were jealous she would be meeting a lot of British guys, Yuzu had to admit that she did find their accent extremely attractive.

Yuzu hadn't met her new family members yet, but she was about to, her new step sister was also attending Hogwarts and apparently was in the same year too. Her new step-father had been out of the country, he had to travel a lot with his work so meeting him would have to wait until Christmas. Yuzu was positively thrilled when she found out she'd finally have a sister.

Yuzu gave a glance to a giant clock on the wall. _Shit, 10:45, better get moving. Now which platform was it…_ She dug the administration letter she had gotten on the same day they moved to London from her new cute and shiny handbag she had gotten just to celebrate the fact that she was about to start a whole new life. _9 ¾, what the heck does that even mean… _While she was walking ahead of the station's main hall, she saw signs indicating to platforms 1-10. _Yup! Has to be there…_

She found the platform 9 and 10, but there were no other signs or platforms in between. _Aaagh, this is one of those trick portals again. Why doesn't it just say so in the letter?! Flick this switch if you wish to enter, say these magic words and TA-DUUH, here you are. How hard is it to give decent directions…_

Her head was turning left and right, trying to catch a glimpse of something remotely familiar. A wand. An owl. _A fricken' broomstick, give me something, come on…_

A tall girl, silvery long hair pushing a big cart in front of her, carrying a suitcase with a familiar crest on it caught Yuzu's attention. _JACKPOT! The same crest that was in my letter!_ While she was cramming the letter back to her bag and pushing her cart to follow the silver-haired lady, she took a look around to see where she went but found no sign of her anywhere. _Shit, where did she go… This way I guess, but I didn't see the exact spot. Ugh.. that was so close too._

Yuzu was starting to feel panicky and one glance at the clock told her it was already 10:55. _OH, COME ON! THAT COULD HAVE NOT BEEN THE LAST…_ in the same second, another silver haired girl came running, almost crying.

"Niiiiiinaa, why did you not wait for me," she was nearly in tears. Yuzu was about to stop her and ask directions but this time she saw it. The girl ran straight to a solid wall and disappeared.

_Ok, let's give this a shot._ Yuzu pushed her cart ahead and ran towards the same spot. Right before hitting the wall, she closed her eyes and expected some sort of impact but there was none. She opened her eyes and saw a totally new platform, a huge train with "Hogwarts Express" written clearly on it. _MADE IT! WOOHOOO!_ Yuzu wanted to scream, but that'd be too uncool thing to do, there were still a lot of people on the platform saying goodbyes to their families. She pushed the trolley to the nearest door and started heaving her heavy luggage inside the train. She got all of her huge bags inside when the conductor whistled to sign that the train was leaving.

"Phew, that was close…" Yuzu said, now standing in the middle of the corridor with all of her luggage. She saw a carriage half-empty towards the front of the train and started dragging her luggage towards the small door. Yuzu saw a petite, twin-tailed girl sitting in the carriage through the small window, the girl looked up and saw Yuzu and gave a quizzical look.

_Wow, that's some eyebrows on that one…_

The girl with the eyebrows got up from her seat and walked up to the door.

_At least she seems helpful…_

"I don't know who you are exactly, but this carriage is for _prefects_ only," she stated right after opening the door and blocking Yuzu's way.

"Oh, apologies. What are prefects? Elsewhere must be quite full by now, could I just slum with you guys for-" Yuzu started but was interrupted before she could finish her sentence.

"No. Like I said. _Prefects only._ You should have just been here earlier if you wanted a good seat. Now if you would excuse me, I have work to do. The train started moving," the twin-tails closed the door and returned back to the carriage.

_Wow, well, sorry for asking… Guess I need to find somewhere else then. _

Yuzu took as much of her luggage that she could carry on one go and started walking towards the other direction on the corridor. The small compartments looked full, full of excited students already catching up on the latest rumours after the summer. A few gave Yuzu a curious look when she passed by.

_Great… Not the most impressive entrance, I need to make a new one later. Yup, this is nothing. Just need to find- oh this one looks quite empty. _

Yuzu found a compartment that had only two people in it. She carefully knocked on the glass door before opening it. _Why did I do that? _

"Hi guys! I'm sorry but is this seat taken? I was running a bit late today and everywhere is so full! If it's no trouble, could I join you two?" Yuzu asked politely. Never hurt to be polite, now did it?

The other girl chuckled loudly and gave Yuzu a long judging look from head to toes. This girl had a very delinquent aura about her, her hair was dyed pink and she had huge earphones resting on her shoulders. Yuzu was quite familiar with the _no-maj_ equipment.

"Ah, of course. Excuse this one, she's an idiot," The other girl hurried to greet Yuzu. "I'm Harumi, or you can call me 'Harumin' like everyone else does. I haven't seen you around, are you new?"

"Yes, just transferred for my last year! I'm Yuzu, by the way, uh… I'll be right back, I have more stuff just lying on the corridor floor over there." Yuzu left her luggage on the corridor in front of the door and hurried to get the rest.

When she returned, her luggage had already been moved to the compartment.

"Oh, wow, you guys didn't have to do that! Thank you!" Yuzu was positively beaming.

"Don't thank me, she's the dork who has a pleasing complex," the pink-haired girl sneered.

"Ah, yes, and this stubborn git here is Matsuri, don't mind her, she has no decent manners. But she's OK once you get to know her." Harumi excused for her friend.

"Nice to meet you both! So which year are you guys?" Yuzu asked and started to lift her bags on the shelves. Harumin was about to get up and help but Yuzu gestured her to sit down. "No need, I can get the rest, no problem."

"I'm in my seventh, like you, you said you were in your last year just now right?" Harumi asked and Yuzu nodded. "And this one is starting her fifth year, so still a small cub, ain't you?" Harumi teased.

"Shut it! I'm still a better Chaser than you," Matsuri blustered. Yuzu was done with her luggage and took a seat next to Harumi. She was enjoying the small banter going on.

_So they play Quidditch, wonder if the teams here are any good…_

"Hah! Just because you won the cup, in controversial circumstances, might I add, doesn't make you a better Chaser," Harumi was getting worked up, talking about the subject.

"Wait… So you two play for different teams? How does that work here, houses and all that? I know practically nothing," Yuzu chimed in.

"Oh, right. Where'd you transfer from?" Harumi was intrigued.

"Ilvermorny." Yuzu replied and saw Matsuri looking rather puzzled. "That's in the United States, I was in the Thunderbird house, the best one of course. Well, I might be a bit biased... But we had a really good Quidditch team in our house!"

"Did you play?" Matsuri was clearly getting more interested about the new transfer student.

"Haha, no. I'm no good on a broom. But I was in the cheering squad for our team!"

"What's a 'cheering squad'?" Harumi asked.

"Oh, you guys don't have cheering squads… that's too bad. Well, we kind of just made sure the audience was on board with our team and made up all kinds of chants and songs, usually about the other team," Yuzu was rambling on and noticed the two of her new acquaintances looking really confused. "But enough about my past life, I want to know more about how things _really_ work at Hogwarts."

"Well, we have 4 houses. I'm in Gryffindor, she's in Slytherin. I guess we're like the worst rival houses or something like that. Slytherin has all the "bad boys" if you're into that… or "bad girls", whatever floats your boat," Harumi explained.

"So, Matsuri here "floats your boat" or you guys just friends?" Yuzu asked, very curious. There had been a strange tension between the two earlier. Harumi's cheeks turned as bright pink as Matsuri's hair suddenly.

"Whaaa- no, no, no," the brunette was shaking her head.

"Hah! As if… I have tried, many times, but this one just keeps turning me down every time," Matsuri smirked.

"Ahem, we're just… friends I guess, I can't seem to shake her off, no matter how hard I try," Harumi explained.

"Sorry if that was too personal, you guys just have this weird chemistry so I had to ask," Yuzu said apologetically.

"No it's fine. I guess we kind of gave off some strange 'quarreling couple' vibes, you're not the first one to ask… We actually live in the same neighborhood back at home, maybe that's why we hang out a lot." Harumi pondered and studied Matsuri carefully for a while, as if she was trying to figure out how they ended up being so close friends. "Uh… Yeah, that must be it… So, Yuzu, wasn't it? Did you have to leave a sweetheart behind when you moved here?"

"Nah, I didn't have anything serious going on. Never really found 'the one', you know? I did date occasionally, but it never moved anything inside me. You should feel something special right? Like butterflies or whatever they say you have when you meet someone like that." The blonde queried.

"So you've never kissed anyone?" Harumi teased.

"I volunteer!" Matsuri exclaimed and jumped forward. Harumi took a careful swing and bashed the pink-haired girl back to her seat.

"Idiot! Ugh- sorry, she gets impossible sometimes," Harumi apologized.

"Haha! No worries! Uh… no I haven't really kissed anyone." Yuzu was feeling embarrassed.

_Great, now they think I'm a total dweeb… _

The conversation went on and the train reached the countryside. They were only interrupted when the trolley came and all of them bought some snacks. Yuzu was glad she had found people she got along with already and it was easy to talk to them too, they kept comparing the differences between the cultures of their schools. It was only when Yuzu got to her story part where she explained her morning and how she almost missed the train when she remembered something she wanted to ask about.

"Oh, right, what are prefects?" Yuzu asked while opening a chocolate frog box.

"Prefects? Well, they are usually whining little know-it-alls, but I guess the official answer would be that they help the school staff to keep order with the students. And there's also a Head Boy and a Head Girl. Why? Did you already meet some?" Harumi looked curious.

"Yeah, I guess. A girl with twin-tails and uh- let's just say that she had very unique eyebrows," Yuzu tried to stay polite.

"HAHA! She's a prefect, a great example of one too! I feel sorry for you, what did you do?" Matsuri was laughing and banging the table with her hand.

"I tried to go to the area that was apparently reserved for _'prefects only'_," Yuzu said, trying to imitate the way the twin-tails had been speaking.

"Hahaha, I would have liked to see that!" Matsuri was still laughing, barely able to form sentences.

"Ahem, yes. That was Himeko, also a 7th year student. So I guess they didn't make her a Head Girl… nah, she's too mean to be a Head Girl," Harumi was contemplating the idea. "But wait… Who did they choose this year?"

"Uh, this Head Girl business sounds serious, so she'd be like the Queen bee of the prefects?"

"Well, that depends, on some years we have actually had pretty decent Head Girls and Head Boys. I remember at least one who was never a prefect even," Harumi explained.

"So you don't know who it is this year?" the blonde was eating her chocolate frog and her words came out a bit slurred.

"Nope. They will give the announcement after the feast, before the sorting. Oh, right, you might have to go through it with the first-year students. HAH! Don't remember that ever happening." Harumin gave a wide smile, and gave an encouraging pat on Yuzu's back.

_Ugh… So much for my grand entrance. I'm going to look ridiculous with the kids up there._

The three of them kept imagining strange situations with the sorting and guessing which house Yuzu would be placed in. None of them seemed to notice the scenery changing and daylight fading. They were interrupted when the compartment door was suddenly opened without a warning.

"You should be in your school robes already! We are nearly there, please hurry." A tall dark-haired girl stood in the doorway.

_Geez, she's pretty… Wait… Why is she just standing there?_

The dark-haired girl did not move. She was staring Yuzu and looked like she was about to ask something but decided not to.

_Uh, shit… do I have chocolate on my face or something? Why is she not leaving?_

"You're going to watch us change, or what, Aihara?" Matsuri snapped, also wondering why this girl did not leave already.

_Wait… Aihara? As in… AIHARA?! FOR REAL? Does she know who I am? That's why she's there just staring, right? Maybe she's not sure and I just need to introduce myself… _

Yuzu got up and walked to the door.

"Hi, I'm also… I'm Yuzu! Nice to meet you!" Yuzu tried to introduce herself.

_Whaaaaat am I saying.. "I'm also… I'm Yuzu!" UGH, why can't I form normal sentences… _

"Are you going to wear _that_ under your robes?" was the reply from the taller girl. She was clearly referring to the shirt with buttons opened up so low that one could clearly see her cleavage. "School rules clearly state that the outfits should be decent and unprovocative, also, discreet jewelry is allowed but those earrings are too flashy."

_Is she serious… she's pretty serious, right? Why do I feel so guilty about this, this outfit was totally fine in the US. How am I supposed to know what's 'discreet' in a totally new culture. _

"W-what?" was the only thing Yuzu managed to blurt out.

"Hide the goodies and less bling, Yuzu," Matsuri felt like she needed to translate this into a simpler language Yuzu would also understand.

The dark-haired woman in the doorway gave Matsuri a deadly stare. She took a step closer to Yuzu and was now standing inside the compartment.

"Please, stand up," the mysterious girl said with a low tone. Yuzu jumped up, the tone was simply too commanding.

_Eeeh? Wait I'm too close… What is she…_

Yuzu was so close to the strange girl that she could smell the faint perfume on her. The dark haired beauty grabbed the front of Yuzu's shirt and started buttoning it up.

_Whaaaaaa… Why is this happening?_

Yuzu was suddenly feeling very aware of the two cold hands brushing against her breasts. Just the slightest touch she could feel through the fabric and the small swift movements when the girl worked her way up made the little hairs in the back of her head stand up.

_I can't just push her away, can I?_

The girl apparently decided that the outfit was now covering enough and stopped. Yuzu's head suddenly felt really light and dizzy.

"Just get ready, and try to look decent," the girl earlier identified as 'Aihara' said with a blatant tone, turned around and disappeared to the corridor.

"Whaaa-" Yuzu waited for the girl to disappear far enough. "WHO WAS THAT?!"

"Aihara Mei, she's in my house and my year. She's kinda OK, doesn't usually get on your face like the other prefects. Well… except for you, Yuzu. She just studies like crazy and gets the top grades in everything." Harumi explained.

_Why is my heart racing like crazy… _

"Hah, I've heard some pretty nasty rumours about her. I heard she's like… crazy between the sheets and all," Matsuri tried to keep her language PG-13 rated.

"That's bull, I've never seen her show even the slightest interest for anyone and most of the guys, and some girls too, from my house and my year have tried to get her attention. I almost feel sorry for her sometimes, some people don't know when they should just drop it."

"Uh, this is a bit awkward… I think… uh-, nevermind," Yuzu was about to explain the complicated family situation but decided to wait for some more confirmation that this girl was indeed her step sister before she started to spread more useless rumors about her. Yuzu tried to remember which bag had her school robes, but her mind was still racing. She grabbed the first bag that was on the shelf closest and started rummaging through it.

"Haha, Yuzu is already smitten! Totally smitten! She totally got to you, right?" Matsuri was teasing the blonde girl, nervously going through her bags.

"Eh? W-what? No- it's just… I'll explain later, OK?" Yuzu said while reaching for another bag on the shelf.

"So you're going to pretend that awesome groping scene we just witnessed felt like nothing then?" Matsuri kept poking.

"Leave her alone, would you?" Harumi sighed and climbed to stand on the seat and opened her trunk that was on top of her on the shelf. She pulled her black robes and closed the trunk. "C'mon, Matsuri, you should get dressed too."


	2. Chapter 2

Okay, here's chapter 2! Huge thanks goes to the lit club gang for the support.

and a HUGE thanks to Sappho82 for the awesome beta reads. Her fics are awesome, go read them if you haven't yet.

I can't describe how much fun writing this is !

Can't wait to write some moar.

Reviews are highly appreciated!

* * *

Yuzu was sitting at the Great Hall in a long table with a lot of people staring at her. She tried her best not to care too much, she had just followed Harumi, her new friend she had just met on the train. None of the school staff had pulled her aside at any point to explain what she needed to do. Back at the train station, all the first-year students had been gathered to small boats and Matsuri had suggested Yuzu would join them to lose her "lake virginity" but Harumi assured Yuzu that she was not expected to do that.

"First year sorting is starting soon, I'm sure they will tell you what to do." Harumi reassured Yuzu. The brunette turned and started talking to another girl on her other side, catching up after the summer break.

"So, this is the Gryffon-y house?" Yuzu asked cheerfully from a boy sitting next to her.

"_Gryffindor_," came the prompt reply.

"Oh, sorry. My bad. Gryffindor… right," Yuzu blushed, turning back to Harumi and tried to get her attention to request assistance. She barely had time to tug on Harumi's robes when people around her in the table suddenly stopped talking. All eyes turned to Yuzu's direction.

_Oh geez, what did I do now… HARUMI, HELP!_

"Excuse me, are you Yuzu Aihara?" A calm voice rang in Yuzu's ears. People started to whisper to each other, Yuzu heard some of them mention her new last name. The voice was familiar, the same from the train earlier.

_Aihara Mei. Great. Just what I need right now… more attention._

"Y-yes—" Yuzu started to say and turned around.

"You were supposed to come with the first-year students. Professor Udagawa was looking for you, _you're late_. Follow me, please," Aihara Mei stated matter-of-factly. She did not sound angry and did not show any signs of being even remotely interested in addressing the fact that they shared the same last name.

People from other tables started to get curious too, some of them rose up to get a better look at what was happening at the Gryffindor table. Yuzu got up as quickly as she could. The Great Hall was almost silent.

"WHOOOO! GO YUZU!" Matsuri bellowed from across the hall. Some students laughed, and Yuzu decided it'd be best just to smile and wave as she followed the dark-haired girl back to the Entrance Hall. Other students started to whistle loudly and the two girls were escorted out of the Great Hall with a huge applause.

_Why is she so indifferent towards me, we share a freaking last name…_

Yuzu stared at her step-sister with a meaningful look when they got to the empty hall. Mei kept walking towards a small door in the back of the Entrance Hall.

"Hey! Aren't you even a bit curious—" Yuzu wanted to ask the other girl if she was even mildly interested to get to know her step-sister but Mei cut her off.

"The first-year students are waiting in that room; you can probably find your way from here by yourself." Mei pointed at the door in the corner and stopped. Yuzu kept staring at her step-sister, dumb-founded.

_ARE. YOU. SERIOUS. NOTHING?_ _Fine… Have it your way then…_

The blonde flew past the other girl, brushing against her shoulder on her way by accident and was almost about to turn and apologize, but decided against it. Yuzu walked to the door without looking back and opened it feeling irritated. About 20 young children inside a small room turned abruptly when Yuzu entered the room. Realizing she might be scaring the kids; Yuzu forced a smile on her face.

"Hi, everyone! I was told to come here with you," Yuzu said nervously.

"Oh, great! You must be Aihara Yuzu then," a young handsome professor was standing there with the students. "I'm Professor Udagawa, we just went through the orientation but I'm sure after the sorting, someone from your house can explain the gist of it all."

"Uh—sure. Nice to meet you all!" Yuzu kept smiling, feeling utterly confused.

"Now, everyone. If you could just form a line and follow me to the Great Hall and we can get the sorting ceremony started!" Professor Udagawa said rather excitedly.

Yuzu tagged right behind the professor; her strategy was to be as invisible as possible. They walked to the Great Hall and as expected, all eyes turned to watch them as they marched through the whole Great Hall to the front. Yuzu wished she could just disappear right there and then, but did her best to look cool and kept smiling.

They were placed in a line, facing the whole school. There was the Sorting Hat sitting on a chair in the middle, Harumi had explained everything about the sorting in the train. The whole Hall fell silent and the Sorting Hat burst into a song.

After the song ended, Professor Udagawa walked next to the chair and opened a large scroll.

"When I call your name, please step forward and place the Sorting Hat over your head and take a seat in the chair! First we have our transfer student, Aihara Yuzu!"

Relief overcame Yuzu when they called her name out first for the Sorting. Her last name apparently caught a lot of attention amongst the other students and the chatter only stopped when the Headmaster raised his voice and asked for the crowd to settle down. Professor Udagawa was holding the Sorting Hat and gesturing for Yuzu to sit in the chair.

"No need to worry, just take a seat," the professor said kindly. Yuzu took a seat and raised the Sorting Hat on her head.

_I just want to be in the same house as Harumin…_

The Hat barely touched her head when she heard the Hat talking, "Another Aihara, interesting… And friends seem to be important… Yes… _GRYFFINDOR!_" Yuzu felt a weight lifting off her shoulders and sighed. She got up and the Gryffindor table was roaring loudly.

_Well, that was easy…_

Harumi was thrilled to see Yuzu return and had gotten up from her seat.

"I knew it! This year is going to be awesome!" the brunette was jumping from excitement; she gave Yuzu a long hug. Yuzu saw Aihara Mei, sitting at the end of the table staring at her hugging Harumi, she quickly averted her gaze when she noticed Yuzu staring back at her.

The two girls sat down, all of the students around them started introducing themselves and Yuzu politely greeted each one.

_I suck with names, not going to remember half of you guys, sorryyy~~_

"So, _Aihara?_" Harumi lowered her voice. She gave Yuzu a meaningful look and Yuzu was about to give an answer but the whole Gryffindor table started to rumble loudly, the sorting was still going on.

"I'll explain later!" Yuzu shouted over the noise, holding her ears.

* * *

The evening festivities were coming to an end. Students were finishing the desserts; cheerful conversations were still going on in each of the house tables.

"OK, don't look now, but _the other_ Aihara can't take her eyes off you. She just keeps glancing this way like every minute," Harumi said quietly, Yuzu resisted the urge to turn and see what Harumi was talking about.

"Oh yeah, I tried to ask her when she dragged me to the Entrance Hall earlier if she was even a little bit curious why we share the last name, but she kept ignoring me. So, I just decided I'll ignore her too," Yuzu pouted.

"Oh, did you hear that she was appointed as the new Head Girl?" the brunette asked before stuffing the last piece of cake on her plate in her mouth.

"I heard, yes. Does that mean she'll be scolding us on a regular basis?" Yuzu grinned.

"Probably, yeah. But don't worry about it too much, just let me know if she gives you too hard a time, yeah?" Harumi gave Yuzu a kind smile and placed her hand on Yuzu's shoulder.

Yuzu noticed the tables were suddenly cleared and the Headmaster had risen. After a few words, the people started singing the school anthem. Yuzu kept looking around curiously, all of the students seemed to have fun singing in different tunes, she gave a quick look to Mei's direction and noticed she was mouthing the words along the other students as well.

_I guess she's not that scary after all. She looks kinda adorable when she's singing..._

The song ended and people started slowly getting ready to go to their dormitories. Yuzu followed Harumi and they headed out of the Great Hall. After what seemed like endless flight of stairs, they eventually arrived in the common room of the Gryffindor house. Harumi kept walking towards the girls' dormitories but turned around before reaching the flight of stairs leading upstairs.

"Oh, right. I don't know if we will share a room. I've been with the same people since my first year," wondering out loud, Harumi noticed the Head Girl approaching them. "Oh shit, prepare yourself, Yuzu, here she comes—"

"W-what? Who—" Yuzu spun around.

_EEH?! What does she want now…_

"I've been informed by the Head of our house that you, Yuzu, will be sharing the dormitory room with me and our classmate, Cecilia." Mei said blatantly.

_Fuuuuuuuu—What?! … WHAT?!_

"Oh, Ceci is totally cool! She's in our Quidditch team, the best Seeker of the whole school," Harumi's eyes lit up when she started talking about Quidditch. "Oh, wait. I think I saw her here just a while ago—"

_Harumiiiin, you're not helping… Why. Are. You. Not. Picking. Up. On. My. Obvious. Panic. Here._

"Ahem, I wouldn't be surprised if she snuck out again," Mei sighed. "She has a tendency not to follow the rules, please, don't get any stupid ideas like that from these people, Yuzu."

"W-what? Yeah, right. Yes… No?" Yuzu was heard her name but took a while to register what Mei had just said. She felt her heart pounding in her ears, face turning red and kept hoping Harumi would save her from this situation somehow. Harumi seemed to be still occupied looking for Cecilia in the crowd. Some other classmates came to talk with Harumi and gave curious glances to Yuzu's direction.

Yuzu felt cool fingers close around her wrist and a small yank pulled her towards the staircase.

"I need to get some sleep, let's go," Mei said, dragging the blonde along with her.

"Oy! AIHARA!" Harumi yelled when she noticed Yuzu and Mei had disappeared.

Both turned around. There were students gathered around Harumi, some of them were fooling around with some joke shop items, they had some candy that changed their voice and some of them were making a lot of noise, making it difficult to hear what Harumi had to say.

"Right, you're both… Mei, could you give her some slack here! Yuzu, I want you to meet—" Harumi laughed when she realized that both of the girls had reacted to the last name.

"You can meet them tomorrow, Yuzu." Mei was starting to get annoyed at the loud crowd goofing around the common room.

_She seems a bit miffed. What's the big deal? _

Yuzu spread her hands to gesture there was no arguing with the Head Girl and followed her up the stairs. Mei snatched fireworks from a young student's hand when they passed them on the stairs. "Do you _have to_ do this every year… Go to sleep, Evelyn!"

They got to the dormitory room and it had 3 large beds, Yuzu noticed her bed was in the middle and her bags had been delivered to the room.

_I would give my right leg to be in the same dorm with Harumin right now, I have so much cute clothes I wanted to show her too…_

Yuzu was brought back from her thoughts when she heard the door closing. She didn't dare to turn around, she heard the Head Girl cast an Imperturbable Charm on the door and the muffled sounds coming from the common room died immediately. Her heart picked up the fast pace again, she tried to keep her breathing steady and not let the other girl see how nervous she was.

_Is she like worried someone might hear us? Or she just doesn't stand any distractions? It's quite creepy to be quiet like this… Should I say something? Aaaagh… Heck, she made this awkward, not me. Can she see how nervous I am? I hope she doesn't notice..._

"I heard from my grandfather this summer that my father had gotten married and there was a girl of my age who would be transferring to Hogwarts." Mei said with a low voice that startled Yuzu. "I hope you will not interfere with my studies and I hope you will follow the rules, you took our family name so I expect you to live up to it."

Yuzu's mouth fell open. She had a hard time believing the words actually came out her stepsister's mouth. Yuzu was feeling really dispirited for the whole first encounter with her newest family member.

"So, this is what you have to say? You find out you have a step-sister and all you can think is that you _hope_ she will follow the stupid school rules?" Yuzu asked, without turning around. "It's not like I had a choice, I was still a minor few months ago and it was mother's choice to take the Aihara family name for us both."

"I just ask you not to interfere with my life, that's all." Mei said coldly. Yuzu turned around to face Mei, she did not even care anymore that her face was probably as deep shade of red as the velvet curtains on the beds.

"Are you serious?! We were so excited with Mama to have you as part of our family, without even meeting you. We were planning to have a Christmas party for the whole family, _you_ included! How can you be so cold about this? Aren't you even a little bit curious what kind of person I am? I'm your _sister_ now, it should mean something!" Yuzu was getting really agitated about the whole situation. Nothing so far had gone the way she had imagined, meeting with her new stepsister.

"I'm not going home for the Christmas holidays, apologies if I have disappointed you, but I'm not the kind of a person you think I am," Mei continued, her tone had softened a bit. Yuzu was examining the dark-haired girl in the dim light and in her opinion, Mei looked a bit lonely.

"Well, I'm dragging you home for Christmas and there's nothing you can do about it!" Yuzu said with determination. Mei lifted her eyebrows and looked a bit surprised at the blonde girl's resolve. The two stared at each other for a while.

_Oh my god, she's pretty…_

"I didn't have any high expectations for meeting you. You should have not gotten so excited about meeting me either. When I saw you in the train today, hanging out with those two delinquents and dressed so inappropriately—" Mei started but Yuzu was getting triggered.

"I was inappropriate?! Who was it that just basically groped me in front of my two new acquaintances, who by the way are—" Yuzu raised her voice, she barely had time to react when the dark haired girl lunged at her. Standing inches away, Mei's face was totally expressionless when she grabbed Yuzu by her nape and pulled her closer, pressing her lips against the blonde's.

_! What is she— damn, her lips are so soft…_

Yuzu stood there, arms hanging uselessly in the air, unable to move or react. She felt her whole body go numb, strange tingling in her fingertips and her head was a buzz. Her eyes were closed tightly, she was too afraid to open them. The Head Girl was working her tongue against Yuzu's lips, forcing them open and began to caress the blonde's tongue with her own. Yuzu was sure her knees would give in any second when she registered the other hand sliding under her robes and behind her back, Mei pulled her closer and the hand was moving lower. Yuzu heard herself moan in between the strokes administered by the Head Girl's tongue.

_Why—please, Mei… I can't… We can't…_

Yuzu flinched when she felt a hand fumbling her ass. She regained control of her body and her head snapped from the haze of mixed emotions. Her eyes shot open and she pushed the dark-haired girl away.

"MEI! WHAT THE HELL?!" Yuzu screamed.

Mei was wiping her lips, looking quite unsurprised by Yuzu's reaction.

_WHAT. THE. ACTUAL. FUCK. What the hell was that…_

Yuzu was glaring at the girl standing in front of her. Her heart was racing, she felt adrenaline rush through her veins and her ears were humming. Mei avoided eye contact and didn't say anything, she just turned away and walked to the large trunk located next to her bed. After opening the trunk, she quickly found what she was looking for and grabbed a small pile of clothing and some small bottles.

"I'm going to the bathroom. You should start unpacking your things," Mei said, walking past the infuriated girl standing in the middle of the room, eyes wide and closely following Mei around. Mei opened the door and disappeared to the hallway, the muffled sounds of people still fooling around in the common room filled the dormitory again.

Feeling utterly confused, Yuzu staggered closer to the bed and let herself fall face down on the soft mattress. She buried her head in her pillow and wanted to scream. She laid there for a while, trying her best to make some sense to what had just happened.

_Aaaagh… This makes no sense at all…_

She was getting ready to confront Mei, once she came back from the bathroom but as time passed, she was getting the nervous feeling in her gut again. Feeling restless and having an urge to talk to someone, she decided to head back to the common room to see if her friend was still goofing around.

"Hey! Yuzu! You came back! C'mon, let's meet everybody!" Harumi saw Yuzu as she approached and ran towards her. Seeing Harumi get all excited at the prospect of introducing her to people, she decided to push the Head Girl out of her head for a while and enjoy her time in her new school. There would be plenty of time later to deal with whatever was the problem with her stepsister.


	3. Chapter 3

Here's the latest chapter! Reviews are highly appreciated!

Thanks for beta read, again, Sappho82

And the support troops, especially PastelRaccoon for sparring me forward with this chapter last night!

Stay tuned for the next update!

_-Nova_

* * *

"Yuzu! Did you get your classes sorted out?" Harumi asked the tired looking blonde who sat down at the large house table in the Great Hall. It was lunch time and students were taking a break from the morning classes.

"Agh, yeah, I think so." Yuzu looked tired. "Professor Udagawa was very helpful and insightful, I managed to get most of the same classes with you too, Harumin!"

"Awesome! I have a break after lunch, how about you? I can show you around the grounds if you're free," Harumi had already finished her plate and was gulping down some pumpkin juice.

"I don't think I have anything, just the afternoon class of Charms that you had too, right?" Yuzu started to stuff food hurriedly in her mouth to not keep Harumi waiting. She noticed a dark-haired figure approaching the table from the corner of her eye.

_Aaagh, not now… Wait, no… She's definitely coming closer… Should I say something?_

Yuzu carefully eyed Mei as she approached the table and sat down on the other side, directly facing Yuzu. Harumi shot a curious look at the Head Girl, taking turns inspecting both girls. Yuzu was nervously focused on getting food down her throat as fast as possible and Mei was staring, silently, not touching her food at all.

"You came back late last night, Yuzu," Mei stated andmade Yuzu choke on her food. Harumi had to pat her back to get the food out.

"Geez, Yuzu, take it easy." Harumi chuckled.

"Nnnaah," Yuzu managed to articulate, her eyes watering from all the coughing. "I don't want to keep you waiting!"

_W-what the heck was that supposed to mean?! She was awake when I sneaked inside the dorms?_

"C'mon, Aihara, don't be so hard on her! Girl just wanted to have fun last night," Harumi said jokingly but Mei was not amused. Yuzu was still catching her breath and lifted her gaze to meet Mei's.

_How can she act as if nothing happened?_

"Curfew— "Mei started reeling off the Gryffindor house rules, but Harumi laughed loudly and cut her off.

"Curfew?! You can't tell her off for hanging out in the common room," Harumi edged on her seat. "We're all adults here, aren't we?"

"Ahem, yes, I think so. That's why it'd be polite, _as adults_, to start acting like ones and respect other people," Mei replied coldly and pushed the food around on her plate. Yuzu's eyes flew open.

_ACTING LIKE ADULTS?! Like suddenly jumping your stepsister's bones out of nowhere?!_

"Agh, Harumin, I'm not hungry anymore, let's be _respectful_ here and leave." Yuzu stood up and turned to Harumi, nearly tripping on the long bench as she threw her other leg over it. She flashed the brunette the brightest smile she could muster and was very aware that the Head Girl was staring at both of them. "You wanted to show me something outside on the grounds?"

"Ah… Yeah, sure. Let's go," Harumi was up on her feet in no time, Yuzu hung herself from her bicep and dragged her away from the table. Yuzu did not look back but she was sure she could feel the burn from Mei's stare as they walked out to the Entrance Hall.

Once outside in the sunlight, Harumi was bursting with excitement.

"Girl, what was all _that_ about?!" the brunette asked excitedly. "And what was _this_ about?" Harumi gave a meaningful nod towards the blonde hanging from her arm.

"Aaaa… hehe—sorry about this," Yuzu said bashfully and let go of the arm.

"Naw, girl. Totally cool! Did something happen with Mei? She's acting kind of strange too," Harumi pondered.

"Oh? She is?" Yuzu looked at her friend curiously. They kept walking away from the castle, while students were out enjoying the sunshine and sitting on the grass.

"Hah! So, something happened, right?!" Harumi was psyched, almost jumping and curiously looking at Yuzu, waiting for more gossip. A blush was starting to form on Yuzu's cheeks and she kept avoiding her friend's eager gaze.

"Ahehe—Well, you see…" Yuzu started nervously. "Something strange definitely happened, but I think—"

"OY! HARUMIN!" A pink-haired Slytherin yelled from a nearby group sitting on the grass. The girl got up on her feet and caught up with Yuzu and Harumi.

"Oh, Matsuri, didn't see you there," Harumi said, disappointed that Yuzu didn't get to finish her story. "We were kind of in the middle of something important and—"

"So? I want to know too! C'mon, anything but Agnes' boring stories of her summer of _love, _eugh. I mean, she's a decent Keeper and all that, but who cares about a_ nobody_ she met during her summer break in France." Matsuri continued her rambling as Harumi sighed. "_Pleeeaaasee~ _Tell me either one of you made out with someone interesting last night. You did arrange a huge welcome party for Yuzu, didn't you?"

_Aaaagh, Matsuri, stop. Can't… stop… blushing… Why the heck did she have to bring this up now?_

Yuzu's face was burning red and she tried to turn away from the other two girls. Harumi unfortunately saw the reaction and flung her palm across her gaping mouth.

"YUZU! You're kidding, right?! She couldn't have…" the brunette was astonished.

"Wait—Who? Tell me, tell me, tell me…" Matsuri's eyes darted from one girl to the other as she begged to know more. Yuzu started to walk away from the group and kept shaking her head, Matsuri stopped her by grabbing her wrist. "NOT SO FAST, you can't just leave me hanging here!"

People around were giving curious looks and turning around to see what the commotion was about. Harumi gestured they should walk further away from the prying eyes and ears. They kept walking ahead, found a quiet spot and Harumi turned to the blonde and grabbed her shoulders with both of her hands.

"Hey, Yuzu, you OK?" the brunette sounded a bit worried.

"Eeh… I'm not sure? It's just… Last night before I came back to the common room, something happened, and I'm not exactly sure why," Yuzu started to explain.

"What am I missing here? Who—" Matsuri was anxious.

"SHUT UP! Let her talk," Harumi shot Matsuri an angry glance.

"Well, we had an argument, I think, it's all a bit blurry… She was so… _cold—"_

"WHO?! WHO WAS—" Matsuri was getting riled up.

Harumi took her wand from her pocket in one swift motion and bellowed, "_SILENCIO!"_ Totally silencing the pink haired girl. She pocketed her wand and gestured Yuzu to continue, Matsuri made an unmistakable hand sign for a silent "Fuck you!" to the brunette.

"Uh… You didn't have to… Well, anyway, we had a fight. But then she just suddenly attacked me and—" Yuzu's words were getting stuck in her throat when she tried to explain the events from the past evening.

"Attacked you? I thought this was about… Wait? She attacked you?! How?!" Harumi was getting panicky.

"Ah! No… I mean… Kind of attacked me, yes…" It was getting harder and harder to explain the situation to Harumi, who started to look really worried, "she _kissed_ me. Not like a small peck, or anything. A full-blown kiss."

Matsuri was trying to communicate, stuck her tongue out and pointed it with her index fingers, with an exaggeratedly puzzled look on her face. Yuzu gave a weak smile, the sight of Matsuri goofing around was lifting her spirits.

"Yes, a _French_ kiss." Yuzu fumbled for her wand, muttered a quiet incantation to release the younger girl from the Silencing Charm and turned back to Harumi. "I was so taken aback by the kiss that it took me a while to push her away."

"So, who is this mysterious woman who stole the first kiss from my girl?" Matsuri had regained her ability to speak.

"Ugh, cut it out. Yuzu is not _your girl._ We are talking about Aihara Mei, now shut up!" Harumi waved her hand to shush Matsuri. The younger girl looked like she wanted to say something but was too eager to know more and let Yuzu continue.

"No, it's OK, that was about all of it. She was indifferent about the whole thing, just left the room to go to the bathroom right after the… thing, that happened. I was going to wait for her to come back but got cold feet and joined you in the common room instead."

"So, just now at lunch was the first time you guys saw each other after last night?" Harumi summed up.

"Yeah, she was gone when I woke up in the morning and didn't see her at breakfast either," Yuzu said.

"Oh, wow. That was some cold treatment there, I mean… I've never seen her so… _edgy_. But maybe that's her way of showing affection, a really strange way if you ask me, but hey… Who am I to judge?" Harumi shrugged her shoulders.

"Told you she was wild, didn't I?" Matsuri smirked and an awkward silence followed.

* * *

Days passed and Yuzu was getting to know her way around the castle. Most of her classes were with Harumi so she had someone guiding her around. Mei kept acting as if nothing had ever happened between them and Yuzu's few attempts to have a conversation with her were rejected by the other girl. Mei seemed to be always busy with homework, Head Girl duties or ready to go asleep and Yuzu was tired of trying to figure her out while still unable to get her out of her head.

_Aaaaagh… This sucks… Why can't I just let this be? Why is her beautiful face all that I can think about? I bet she's not giving me a second thought anymore, agh… this is pathetic._

Yuzu was spread across the breakfast table, her face buried in her sleeve when she felt someone ruffling her hair around. She knew this to be Harumi and didn't bother to get up.

"Aren't you a ball of sunshine on this beautiful morning?" Harumi said, stuffing a muffin in her mouth.

"Shut up, I just want to take a hike in the freakin' Forbidden Forest and live a hermit life with the other forest weirdos, okay?" Yuzu whined.

"Girl, c'mon. There are like dozens of other people, waiting in line to get a date with you, just pick one and it'll smooth itself out," Harumi offered an easy way out of the misery the blonde had fallen into.

"Uuuugh… no thank you." Dating was the last thing on Yuzu's mind.

"Okay, as you like. We have the Quidditch try-outs today, you should come and see! Or try out! Who knows, you might make the team, given you're in a condition to stay on a broom," Harumi continued to cheer her friend up, eating her breakfast.

Windows flew open and a swarm of owls entered the Great Hall. Yuzu flinched when a heavy envelope landed on her head. Harumi fished the letter from the blonde's hair and gave it a quick glance.

"Hey, Yuzu, your mother sent you something," Harumi poked Yuzu's head. Yuzu lifted her head and postured herself to a more upright position. She took the letter from Harumi and was about to open it but stopped.

_She probably wants to know how it has been and tell her everything about Mei. I don't really have anything to tell, do I? …Oh, hey, mama… I met my stepsister… She French kissed me out of nowhere and now we're not talking anymore… How's work? …HAH… Aaaaagggh—I can't send her anything yet. I need to talk with Mei, about Christmas and everything. Just suck it up and be a good daughter, and a stepsister._

"You're not going to open it?" Harumi tore Yuzu away from her thoughts.

"Uh… Not yet, maybe later," Yuzu said quietly and stuffed the letter to her pockets.

"We have a free period before lunch, wanna hang out?" Harumi asked.

"Nah, I need to finish my homework for the afternoon, couldn't exactly focus on Advanced _Anything_ last night." Yuzu sighed. "I guess I'll go to the library, should be quiet enough."

"Okay, but make sure you free the schedule for the afternoon, the try-outs are held before dinner!" Harumi said and reached for a second helping of toast.

* * *

Yuzu followed few of her classmates to the Quidditch arena, Harumi had dashed to the dormitories after the last class to retrieve her Quidditch gear and left Yuzu with a bunch of people who promised to take Yuzu with them. They reached the arena and climbed up to the bleachers on top of the tower. A small group of Slytherin students was already occupying the front seats. Grumbled words and insults flew back and forth the two rivalling groups. Yuzu was quietly following the banter behind her classmates and was only surprised not to find Matsuri with the Slytherin group.

The group of Gryffindors reluctantly took the back row seats and Yuzu followed. The Slytherin group kept glancing up at Yuzu, whispering something to each other and laughing.

_Oh, god. Matsuri, you better NOT have told them everything or I'll gut you like a flubberworm…_

Students with brooms were walking down the field towards the center. Some of them were wearing bright red robes, presumably the last year's team members. A tall boy, also wearing a bright red robe stepped in front of the group and started yelling directions. Yuzu was surprised to see such a large group of students interested to make the team.

The Keeper rose up to the goal posts and Yuzu could hear a distant voice shouting "CHASERS! FIRST ONE, ON MY MARK!" and saw the team Captain throw the Quaffle as high up as he could. Apparently the purpose was to test one Chaser at a time, but the first one being tested had barely started to move when another figure swooped past and caught the Quaffle and darted towards the goal posts. The Keeper was confused and didn't seem to have time to react when the Chaser with dark black hair scored a goal.

Yuzu and the other Gryffindors watched in confusion when the group of Slytherins started to cheer and roar in front of them.

"MATSURI! GET THE _FUCK_ OUT OF HERE!" Harumi's distant voice echoed over the cheering Slytherins, and she rose higher on her broom, chasing the girl she had just recognized as Matsuri but the black-haired stranger had already reached the tower with the two spectator groups. As soon as she landed, she dug her wand from her pocket and Yuzu caught a glimpse of pink before the girl was lost with the group of Slytherins, cheering and hunching over her.

Harumi flew next to the tower and continued yelling, "You little brat, you're in trouble once this is over!"

Yuzu couldn't help but laugh at her Slytherin friend who had emerged from the huddle of students. Matsuri grinned and gestured Yuzu to join them. The blonde politely shook her head, knowing perfectly well that it would send a totally wrong message to her house mates.

After the noise died down, the group of Slytherins seemed to lose interest in the other team's trials and started to make their way out. They tried to persuade Matsuri to join them but she gestured them to go ahead without her. She turned up to Yuzu again, pointing to the seat next to her.

"It's OK now, isn't it?" tilting her head slightly, the pink-haired girl invited Yuzu to sit with her.

"Agh… Fine. Sorry guys, nothing personal… she's a friend, so… yeah…" Yuzu tried to explain to the sour looking group next to her but they were pretending to be busy watching the try-outs.

_Oh wow, that went well… Ugh… Whatever…_

She climbed down and tried her best to give the mischievous girl a disapproving look. They sat down and broke into an uncontrollable fit of laughter.

Matsuri straightened up and nudged Yuzu with her elbow, "Hey, it's Harumin's turn. Don't tell her I said this, but she's totally awesome on a broom."

Yuzu lifted her gaze to the field and saw Harumi approaching the goal posts in full speed, patiently waiting for the perfect moment to divert the Keeper and threw the Quaffle with a ferocious curve to a totally different goal post than where she was supposedly aiming at.

The whole crowd stood up and cheered, Matsuri along with all the Gryffindors.

"You're so right! That was awesome!" Yuzu was yelling through the noise; she had seen a lot of throws and goals in her past school years but was assured this had to be the coolest goal she had ever seen. The noise stopped when it was turn for the next try-out.

"I saw her playing during my first year and decided I wanted to be as cool as she was… Just... Don't you dare tell her what I just said." Matsuri smirked and sat down on her seat.

"Uh-huh, sure… Wait… I wanted to ask you, what the heck have you been telling your house mates about me? They were eyeing me earlier and laughing about something," Yuzu turned to Matsuri, serious look on her face.

"Oh, heh… yeah, about that… Well, I might have _not_ corrected their false suspicions about you and Harumin," Matsuri was preparing for a shitstorm and felt like she had to explain herself a bit more. "But see, that's like creating a diversion so you can pursue the Head Girl—"

"SHUT UP!" Yuzu kept eyeing the back row nervously, they were far enough not to be heard but she wanted to be cautious. "I'm _not_ pursuing anyone, besides, she is my _sister_ for crying out loud!"

"Wait… what?! Like flesh and blood, _sister?! _But that's like… _incest._" Matsuri's mouth was gaping.

"What—iew, no. Stepsister. Our parents just got married this year, I met her for the first time on the train on our way here," Yuzu tried to keep her voice down. Matsuri took a while to think about the situation.

"So, just forbidden love then? That's still _hot._" She eventually concluded. "Just let me know if you need my help making the beloved sis _jealous._" Matsuri inched her face closer, eyes drooping and ran her finger along Yuzu's jawline.

"HEY! Stop it!" Yuzu panicked and slapped the younger girl's hand away from her face. "People are staring at us…"

_You little brat, Matsuri… Maybe it's not so bad to create a diversion to… wait… what am I thinking?!_

Matsuri laughed and turned to follow the rest of the try-outs.

_Ugh… Great. Now the Slytherins think I'm dating Harumin and these people here probably think there's something going on with me and Matsuri… Let's just hope Mei doesn't find out about either side of this mess…_

* * *

Yuzu swore she got more curious looks the following week after the Quidditch try-outs.

_Ugh, even the other two houses seem to be in on some gossip… Wonder which one though…_

Yuzu tried to stay calm and continue her day as if she didn't notice the whispers around her. She found Harumi before the last class of the day and sighed in relief to see a familiar face. Keeping her distance and making sure there was no room for any more gossip, she followed her friend to the classroom.

"Heh, you look like you've had a long day," Harumi said sympathetically. She was rummaging through her bag and after getting the books she needed for the lesson, she dug up something totally different. A huge red and yellow scarf. "Here, I got this for you. We're having a practice match against Slytherin tomorrow, you'll come and root for me, right?"

Yuzu blushed heavily when Harumi reached out to wrap the scarf around Yuzu's neck and gave a slightly mischievous grin.

_Damn it, this doesn't help the pointless rumors at all… Agh, Harumin, you evil, little…_

"Just making sure you're not too _smitten_ with the other team's certain pink-haired Chaser," Harumi teased and made Yuzu's blush deeper shade of red. Yuzu failed to notice the Head Girl standing at the doorway, coming to a sudden halt at the sight of the two friends goofing around. Harumi had just enough time to notice the pure glare of death Mei was giving the two before hastily finding a seat in the back of the room.

Yuzu knew Harumi was just joking, they had been laughing at the situation with the three of them on several occasions but the joke was getting a bit old. Yuzu was not fond of the additional attention she got and was sure some of the students had already heard both of the rumors and formed new ones involving a strange love triangle.

"OK. Ha-ha, really funny. Of course, I will be cheering for you," Yuzu said, trying to keep calm and get the burn on her cheeks to settle while she removed the scarf and stuffed it inside her bag. "So it's only for practice? When is the official match?"

"Oh, that's in November, the team Captains agreed to have practice matches before the official ones a few years ago. The crowd watching these matches is almost as big as what we get in the official matches, though." Harumi explained. "So, you'll be there, right? The game starts at noon."

Yuzu nodded and smiled. "Wouldn't miss it for anything. You better kick Matsuri's sorry little ass!"


	4. Chapter 4

Hello peeps and it's time for a new chapter. Got to include Mei a lot more in this one too, so let me know what you think!

Thanks to Sappho82 for the beta read!

Enjoy! Reviews are very appreciated :3

-Nova

.

* * *

Yuzu woke up on Saturday morning to a strange knocking sound. She got up when the sound persistently continued and saw a tawny owl behind the bedroom window. After opening the window and taking the letter from the owl, it flew off without waiting for a reward.

_I probably missed breakfast again if he came all the way up here, sorry mister owl… _

She had developed a habit to glance at Mei's bed to see if she was still there. This morning was not unlike most of the others, and the Head Girl had already gotten up and left. Anxiety made her stomach turn, she felt like a failure for not being able to connect with Mei the way she originally planned to. She turned the letter around and saw it was also from her mother.

_I need to do something about this. I can't ignore mama forever. She's probably worried, sending another letter like this…_

The blonde found a new sense of determination. She rummaged through her bag to find the other letter, already tattered from being carried around for almost a week. She opened the first one and read through it; nothing unexpected, her mother was asking how her studies were going and she wanted to hear all about the new friends she had made. Her mother was not the most traditional parental figure one might have. Most of the times it felt like talking to a friend, rather than a parent. Yuzu used to feel like there was nothing she couldn't talk to her mother about, but the recent events were certainly not something she would feel comfortable discussing with her.

She finished reading the letter which mentioned Mei briefly, but since her mother had no way of knowing if they'd even be in the same house, her mother had merely asked if she had talked with her yet and what kind of a person she was. The next letter was not much different to the first, just a friendly reminder to keep her dear mother in the loop of things. Her mother had also thought of more questions for Mei regarding the Christmas holiday. The fact that Mei's father barely knew anything about her own daughter became much clearer to Yuzu.

Yuzu picked up a piece of empty parchment and started to write a short reply.

_Hi mama,_

_Glad to hear things are going great at work and at home! Things here at Hogwarts have been really hectic lately, sorry that I haven't found the time to reply your letters. After some slight panic at the train station, well… You know me and how I get sometimes when I'm nervous… I found the right train just in time, was a bit of a hassle but I can tell you all about it later. First person I met in the train was quite rude, apparently there's something called 'prefects' which I guess are a bit what Ilvermorny had with our Student Council. I found some cool people though, Harumin and Matsuri. Harumin is the same age me and Matsuri a couple years younger, they were really nice to me and let me sit with them and told me everything I needed to know. And guess what? They both play Quidditch too! They don't have cheering squads here but I just made my own private one ;) I'm actually on my way to see a practice match after I get this letter business done!_

_I got into the Gryffindor house, remind me to tell you all about the sorting too when we meet at Christmas. Oh boy, that was not quite the entrance I had in mind… But Harumin is in Gryffindor too, so I guess it worked out really well. Matsuri is in Slytherin but they're like neighbors or something with Harumin so they spent the whole summer together and are really close. I actually think there's a bit more than friendship there but they both might be too stubborn to admit it. Drama! My favorite kind. It's really fun to watch them quarreling like a real couple. Harumin has been really nice and shown me around, the whole castle is a huge maze and I get lost all the time if Harumin is not there with me._

_I met Mei too, she actually got appointed the 'Head Girl' (Equivalent of a Student Council President, I think…) and there's also a 'Head Boy' but he's a Ravenclaw._

At this point, Yuzu stopped to think how much she would tell her mother about Mei. But like the Head Girl had pointed out, she barely knew anything about her, so she decided to just leave the details out for now.

_Mei is really beautiful! She's a bit reserved and mostly too busy to talk with me._

Yuzu stared at the sentences she had just written down. Something about the way she just described her new stepsister didn't feel right. Of course, she would have to leave out the details of the sudden kiss she had received but she tried to think of a better way to rephrase how it came out. She decided to cross the last part out.

_Mei has been really busy with her new duties as the Head Girl, so we haven't had a chance to have a longer talk yet. She works really hard and seems like everyone really admires her. She's really beautiful too! But I promise I'll ask about the things for Christmas when I get a moment with her soon._

_Sorry again for the delay and now I really need to run if I want to catch the game! It's Gryffindor versus Slytherin so I get to see both of my friends play. I'm really excited! I already saw some of Harumin's moves and she plays like a pro. Can't wait to see how good Matsuri is._

_Love you and miss you!_

_Yuzu_

She felt lighter to get things off her chest. She was sure the letter would satisfy her mom until she could get a chance to talk to Mei a bit more.

She carefully folded the letter and found an empty envelope to stuff it in. A quick glance at the clock however indicated that she had spent most of her morning with the letters. If she wanted to look decent and get the letter sent she would have to hurry up.

Hoping the shared bathroom would be empty, she grabbed her make-up kit and some hair products before heading out to get herself ready. Most of her house mates seemed to have left already, the corridor of the dormitory was peacefully quiet. The bathroom was empty, and Yuzu felt her mood improve when she got to her usual 'getting ready' rituals.

After finishing her preparations, she returned to the bedroom. She changed her clothes and remembered to take the scarf she had gotten from Harumin the day before. The letter she had written earlier was on the nightstand, she grabbed it and stuffed it in her pocket. She hoped she would run into someone friendly on her way since she was not sure if she could find the Owlery on her own. If not, she'd take care of it later in the afternoon. As she approached the staircase to the common room, she noticed from the balcony that Mei was sitting alone on the couch by the fireplace, focused on studying.

_Maybe she'll help me find the Owlery if I ask nicely? Naw, she probably won't. It can't hurt to ask, though? I can do this… just get this over with and I can check another thing off the list of things to do._

She ascended the stairs to the common room floor, gathered her courage and approached the quiet girl.

_She's so focused she doesn't even notice I'm here. She has that loose strand of hair in front of her face again..._

Yuzu carefully cleared her throat a bit and tried to make her presence clearer. Mei lifted her gaze from the book. Yuzu was slightly mesmerized for a moment, almost forgot what she wanted to ask.

"Uh—I know you must be busy with your studies, but could I ask you for a small favor?" Yuzu tried to muster the sweetest smile she could to appeal to Mei. For a fleeting moment, Yuzu was sure she saw the girl eyeing the scarf she was holding in her hand before she closed her eyes and sighed. "Please?"

"What do you need?" Mei asked and put the book down.

Yuzu felt positively hopeful of her prospects of getting Mei to help her out. She rummaged through her pockets. "I have this letter I need to send but I'm not sure I remember where the Owlery was again. I would be forever grateful if you could maybe take me there?"

Yuzu couldn't believe her luck when Mei stood up and gathered her things. "I need to take these back to our room, can you wait for a while?"

"So that's a yes?" Yuzu wanted to confirm.

"Yes," Mei said and walked past the beaming blonde.

_Ohmygod, ohmygod. She actually agreed to go with me… I get to spend at least a few minutes with her…_

…_Phew, that was easy…_

_And why am I acting like I'm one of her fangirls? Need to get it together before she comes back. Breathe, Yuzu._

_Breathe…_

_OK, here she comes… Wait… Why is she wearing her winter cloak too?_

"Uh, I thought you could go to the Owlery without having to go outside? And it's not that cold outside either." Yuzu tried to carefully inquire what was the point of wearing so much clothing.

"It gets cold if you have to sit watching Quidditch for hours." Mei answered as if the matter should have been obvious.

"So, you're coming to watch the game too?" Yuzu's eyes lit up.

"I have to, as the Head Girl and this being an unofficial match, there needs to be someone there to supervise." Mei sighed and looked as if she'd rather stay indoors and study.

"Right, of course. But thank you for helping with my letter, mother will be pleased to hear from me. So, lead the way!" Yuzu felt excited and gestured Mei to go ahead. She followed the Head Girl through the common room and out to the corridors of the castle.

"So, it's for your mother? The letter, I mean." Mei sounded so genuinely interested it threw Yuzu off.

"W-what? Yeah, it is. She already sent me a second one this morning when I didn't reply to the first. But I read them this morning and she didn't sound too worried, so it's all good." Yuzu bit her lip when she realized she had been babbling on a bit too much. They kept walking further away from the Main Hall and Yuzu was surprised to see the usual busy corridors so empty.

"Oh? Why didn't you read it earlier?" Mei asked.

"I… Well…" Yuzu swallowed. She had a chance to bring up the subject and ask the questions she wanted to know, but she was scared Mei would feel backed into a corner and leave. "You really want to know?"

"I wouldn't have asked if I didn't."

Yuzu chuckled when she noticed Mei was being serious. "Heh, I guess you're right. Well, honestly. I was worried she would want to know everything about you. And I felt like I let her down because I haven't really tried hard enough to get to know you more. So, when I received the second letter, I knew I had to open the first one. I know I haven't gotten anywhere with you… I mean… I really think you would like mama, she's really just a nice person and not nearly as annoying as you probably think I am."

"Whoa, slow down a bit," Mei said almost sarcastically. "Let's see if I got this right. You haven't read the letters from your mother because you felt guilty for not getting to know me?"

"Well… yes," Yuzu said, her heartbeat getting faster.

_Am I really having an actual conversation with her. How did this happen?_

"You do realize this is not your fault, right?" Mei slowed down and was about to head towards an archway leading to another corridor when she noticed Yuzu was not following her but kept walking ahead. A small touch on the shoulder got the blonde to flinch and turn to face Mei with an alarmed look on her face. "I didn't mean to scare you… I get it if you think I'm a bit, let's say, _unpredictable,_ though. The Owlery is this way."

_Great, now she thinks I'm scared of her…_

"I was just lost in my thoughts." Yuzu tried to explain. Mei had stopped and was frowning at the blonde slightly. "I know this is not my fault, but I still feel like I could've tried harder."

"I appreciate the space you've been giving me lately, I thought it was because I asked you to leave me alone." Mei said and started walking again.

_Appreciate the space? While I've been driving myself crazy thinking about… No. I should have tried harder. How am I supposed to ask her to come home for Christmas if I just keep giving her more space?_

Yuzu kept following Mei further down the empty corridors. They passed a few familiar classrooms on their way and an occasional painting, most of the people in the paintings seemed to be elsewhere occupied as well. The silence was getting on Yuzu's nerves and she tried to think of a way to phrase her thoughts.

_I have so many questions I want to ask. Why are you always alone? Why do you study so hard? Why do you push people away? Aagh… Can't really start with anything like that, can I? We barely know each other._

"Mei?" Yuzu asked carefully.

"Yes?"

"Why did you kiss me?" Yuzu blushed heavily and was about to enter another endless rant inside her head.

_THAT'S WHAT I DECIDED TO ASK OUT OF THE BLUE? What's wrong with me…_

Mei hummed quietly to herself and a barely noticeable smile appeared in the corner of her mouth.

_She's laughing at me?! What's so funny about all this?!_

"I was wondering when you would confront me about that. I'm sorry, but I don't have an answer. It felt like an efficient way to get you to shut up," Mei said with a disturbingly calm tone.

"So, you just suddenly kiss anyone you don't want to listen to anymore?" Yuzu was astounded.

"No, can't say that I do. But you kept talking and I didn't really know what else to do," Mei said and kept avoiding eye contact.

"You wanted to prove a point, then?" Yuzu asked and kept staring at the other girl in disbelief.

"I guess you could say that. Now, could we pick up the pace a bit, I don't want to be late." Mei said and walked a bit faster.

"We still have plenty of time. But you can't just keep running away from this, you are part of the family now and I know my mama, she will not give up on this. And I don't want to give up on this, either." Yuzu trailed behind Mei's heels.

"I can see you will not drop this. I haven't been in touch with my father for a long time, so I'm sorry if this comes as a surprise, but I don't intend to stay in touch with him."

"Who asked you to stay in touch with him? _I_ want to get to know you," Yuzu said, staying persistent.

"You do? Why?" Mei glanced at the blonde.

"Why? Because we're family, like it or not. And I think you're lonelier than you care to admit." Yuzu was sure she had pushed too hard this time but the other girl seemed unaffected.

"I like to be alone. There's more important things in life than family or friends," Mei said.

"No, there's nothing more important than family and friends! Seriously, Mei, nobody likes to be alone, not really. I don't know what is going on between you and your dad, but I will not just give up on this because you make lame excuses." Yuzu was getting riled up about the subject.

"I have my reasons, my own ambitions that drive me. To me, those ambitions are worth more than anything. You can't just walk in, knowing nothing about me, and say that you know what's best for _me._" Mei kept insisting on her point of view but still showed no signs of hesitating or being affected by Yuzu's continued efforts of getting under her skin.

"Fine. I'll prove it to you, though. I'll prove that having friends is not the worst thing that could happen to you. You can still pursue whatever your goals are for life, you just don't have to do it alone."

"You—Why do you care if I have friends or not?" Mei was starting to get agitated.

_Finally, a reaction I can work with. Not the one I wanted but… I guess this is progress…_

"Someone has to." Yuzu took a deep breath. "I was excited when I heard I have a stepsister. So, like I said, I will not give up pestering you about this. You can either continue to ignore me and I'll make sure to be a real pain in your ass until you give up or you could try to get along with me."

"You haven't been paying attention to the things I said earlier. I don't have a problem with getting to know each other a bit better. You were the one who brought up the subject of the first night we met." Mei said quietly and Yuzu knew she had to listen closely to what the other girl was saying, she was sure it was something she wouldn't be willing to repeat if asked.

Yuzu took a quick rewind of the whole situation in her head. "Oh? So, you already—_Oh…_ Were you waiting for _me_, back in the common room?"

"And if I was?" A barely detectable shade of pink rose to the Head Girl's cheeks.

"You _were?_" Yuzu was surprised.

_She was! Whaaa… OK, now be cool… Don't screw this up._

"I was. I knew you were going to see the game and you were still sleeping when I got back from breakfast, so I decided to wait." Mei inhaled sharply before continuing. "I knew both of your friends are playing today and you might want someone to keep you company… I mean… Someone might have not been me; I understand I haven't been—"

"I'd love to go to see the game with you!" Yuzu squealed and cut off the other girl's nervous rambling.

"I never asked you to see the game with me," Mei said defensively.

"But you were going to!" Yuzu teased.

"Uhm… Maybe. I hadn't decided on it yet." The tone of Mei's voice was getting softer compared to their earlier arguments. "Well, we're almost at the Owlery. Did you pay any attention to the route we took from the Gryffindor tower?"

"Haven't got the faintest clue where we are, to be honest. But I think I saw the classroom for Charms on our way, right?" Yuzu looked around the surroundings, but they had reached an area of the castle she was sure she hadn't visited before.

"You're hopeless." Mei sighed. "But yes, we did pass Charms a while ago. There was actually something I wanted to ask, now that you mentioned it."

"You want to ask _me_ something? Shoot." Yuzu looked curiously at the girl and was positively sure she saw a faint blush on her cheeks this time.

"Are any of the rumors true?"

_Ah, shit, so she heard something. Why does she want to know, though? Should I just play it dumb and pretend I don't know what she's talking about. Yeah… maybe that'll work._

"What rumors?" Yuzu held her breath while waiting for the answer.

"Are you dating Harumi? Or the girl from Slytherin, Matsuri, right?"

"Why do you want to know?" Yuzu asked, although she knew perfectly well she wouldn't get a decent answer.

"Isn't that what friends would discuss?" Mei was obviously getting uncomfortable.

Yuzu found an opening to tease her a bit further. "So, we're _friends_ now?"

"Ah… Forget I asked anything, it's none of my business." Mei turned her gaze away.

"You're a bit hopeless too, you know. At least when it comes down to interacting with people." Yuzu was smiling and loving the reactions she got out of the usually so calm and collected Head Girl. "But to answer another question you didn't ask me, _yes_. I could be your friend. And _no,_ I'm not dating either of them."

"We're here." Mei stopped in front of a spiral staircase. "I'll show you the school owls you can use."

_Very convenient… Should I also note that she obviously just changed the subject?_

"Thanks, for this and waiting for me, that was really nice of you." Yuzu flashed the girl a big smile.

Mei said nothing on their way up. When they reached the landing on the top floor Yuzu could feel the cool breeze coming through the windows. Suddenly she felt like there was something else she wanted to write in her letter.

"Hey, uh, Mei? You wouldn't happen to have a quill or something I can write with?" Yuzu asked.

"I do, but it's just a regular muggle pen I use to make notes," Mei said while reaching for her pockets under the cloak. She held out the pen to Yuzu. "Here."

"Great, thanks." Yuzu smiled and opened the letter. She placed the letter against the wall and added a small note on the bottom.

_Just found Mei waiting for me before the game and can't wait to tell you more about her! She helped me to find—_

"Are you writing something about me?" Mei asked, trying to peek over Yuzu's shoulder.

"Maybe, is there something you'd like to say to her?" Yuzu turned to look at Mei.

"Just that I'm looking forward to meeting her in the future." Mei said, still looking like she was way out of her comfort zone.

"Okay, I'll tell her." Yuzu grinned and decided not to tease the girl about it.

—_the Owlery. She also says hi and is looking forward to meeting you at Christmas!_

"That's not what I said…" Mei said, clearly reading the note behind her back.

"You can tell her yourself at Christmas," Yuzu said and stuffed the letter back inside the envelope. "Here, your pen."

Mei had a glazed look on her face before taking the pen from Yuzu.

"You're really not going to give up on the whole Christmas family thing, are you?" Mei asked.

"Nope. You're coming home with me. I don't care what it takes."

Mei was frowning in a strange way that Yuzu was not entirely sure what it meant. She suddenly raised her arm a bit and a dark owl swooped down from the rafters.

"This is Anthoniko, he's a lot faster than the school owls. You can borrow him if you'd like to," Mei said, petting the gorgeous dark owl resting on her arm.

Yuzu noticed her mouth was gaping from all of the strangeness of the past few moments. "Uhm… So, you'd let me use your owl?" Mei nodded and Yuzu took a step closer to pet Anthoniko. He seemed to be pleased with the attention and hooted excitedly. "Well, aren't you just the cutest thing! Would you like to take this letter back to my mama? You would, wouldn't you?"

Anthoniko took the letter Yuzu was holding out to him and flew out of the window. Yuzu kept looking after him until he disappeared from view and turned to see Mei who was staring at her with same frown she had on before. Mei suddenly closed the distance, cupped both sides of Yuzu's head with her hands and drew her into another kiss.

Yuzu whimpered slightly but wrapped her hands around the taller girl. The whole kiss felt different from the one before, it was hastier and Mei seemed to be nervous. Just when Yuzu was getting more relaxed, Mei drew herself away.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that." Mei said and wriggled out of Yuzu's arms.

"W-wait… What—" Yuzu was confused.

"The game will start soon, let's go." Mei reached the top of the stairs with a few decisive steps and didn't stop to wait for the blonde to follow.

_I CAN'T EVEN…_

"SERIOUSLY?!" Yuzu yelled after the girl who had already disappeared to the staircase. The owls on the rafters started to make loud noises and the blonde muttered apologies to the owls while running after Mei. "Mei, wait up! I'm so not done with you yet!"


	5. Chapter 5

Okay, here we go! Sorry for the delay, life's been hectic lately with work and a few other things I needed to get out of the way.

Thanks to Sappho82 for being the best beta, always a pleasure to read your notes on this.

-Nova

.

* * *

Yuzu tried her best to trail close enough to Mei and not get lost in the confusing corridors of the castle. At some point she realized Mei was slowing down on purpose before turning a corner just to make sure she was still following her.

_Why can't you just wait for me like a normal person?_

A frustrated huff escaped Yuzu's lips when she reached the Entrance Hall just to get a glimpse of dark hair and the long robe disappearing behind the huge oak doors leading outside. A group of younger students were just emerging from the Great Hall and excited chatter filled the room before Yuzu had time to consider shouting after Mei.

After finally getting outside, Yuzu broke into a run to catch Mei who was already half-way to the Quidditch Pitch.

"Whoa, hold up! You promised to see the game with me," Yuzu panted. Mei barely slowed down her pace.

"I most certainly did not. I promised to help you find the Owlery and I did," Mei replied coolly.

_Not this again… C'mon…_

Yuzu swallowed her frustration and tried her best to get on Mei's good side again. "Thank you for showing me the way. I didn't get to say thanks when you rushed off so fast."

Mei continued her determined stroll across the grounds and paid Yuzu no attention.

_Why am I getting punished with the silent treatment every time you have a freak episode and end up kissing me?!_

"About what happened back there…" Yuzu brought up the subject the other girl was clearly avoiding. "It's okay. I mean—I don't mind the uh—let's just say _special attention_ you're giving me, but could you maybe stop running away from me every time you decide to give said attention?"

"I—no."

"You what?"

"Nothing, would you just…" Mei stopped and inhaled slowly. "I mean, you said you wouldn't stop pestering me. So, I know you won't leave me alone, but could we at least wait until the game is over to talk about this?"

"Fine. But I'll hold you to that." Yuzu gave Mei an exaggeratedly stern look before heading towards the Pitch.

* * *

The match started with loud cheering from both teams' supporters. The stands were mostly filled with students from either Gryffindor or Slytherin house. A small blotch of yellow was barely noticeable on the far end of the pitch where a group of Hufflepuff girls had shown up to give their support to the practice match referee, the Captain of the Hufflepuff house team.

Yuzu tried to keep her eyes on the field and enjoy the game. The two had barely spoken since they had settled down on the seats and Yuzu found herself glancing at the brunette's direction more times than she cared to admit. Mei kept her eyes fixed forward and though she clearly tried her best to seem unaffected by the events of the game, Yuzu found her occasionally twitching and holding her breath when the situation got too tight for their team.

_Maybe she just doesn't know how to open up? …Maybe that's just it. She doesn't want to be bad at anything, so she doesn't even try…_

Yuzu's thoughts were interrupted when she saw a flash of pink soar right in front of her. Matsuri had the Quaffle and was clearly eager to show off. A loud roar sounded from the large group of fellow Gryffindor students sitting in the same stand when the Slytherin Chaser swaggered mockingly, waited for the Gryffindor Beaters to notice her and start swinging Bludgers at her direction. She flashed a huge grin at Yuzu's direction before plunging into a deep spiraling dive dodging the Bludgers just in time.

One of the Bludgers directed at Matsuri flew straight into the crowd of Gryffindor students. The cheers and laughter from the Slytherin group were thundering across the pitch. Yuzu had to try her best not to laugh with them, their own team's Beaters had just bashed their own support group.

Yuzu had seen enough Quidditch games in her old school to notice two major differences between the teams playing against each other. While their house's team did its best to make formations and execute well-practiced plays, the Slytherin team was mainly focused on empowering their few star players to perform stunning solo displays without a clear tactical purpose. This was clearly frustrating some of the players who were shouting profanities along with the supporters in the audience.

Even with the score in their favor, the Slytherin were controlling the game for the most part and causing mayhem whenever they found an opening. Yuzu found herself really enjoying the game and was cheering with others when their team scored. Harumi had a few tricks up her sleeve but was clearly also a team player passing the Quaffle to the other Chasers as well. Most Slytherin efforts were someone going in solo and usually getting blocked by the Gryffindor Keeper.

The game had been going for a good thirty minutes when the Gryffindor Seeker was waving the Snitch in their hand eagerly and the referee whistled the end for the match. The whole stand aside from Mei stood up to celebrate with loud roars. Yuzu was glad to see her friend approaching and waved eagerly to Harumi when she slowed down on her broom close to the stands.

"We're going to Hogsmeade to celebrate, wanna come with us, Yuzu?" Harumi beamed her victorious smile and nodded to few of their classmates in the cheering crowd.

Yuzu was about to nod when she remembered the promise she was going to get the Head Girl to keep. She might as well get some talking done with her while enjoying drinks with the team. "Sure! Can Mei come with us too?"

Mei stood up to protest but Yuzu shot her a meaningful look before she had time to open her mouth. Harumi gave the two a curious look followed by a grin. "Of course. Can you wait for me outside the pitch? Need to change…"

The Chaser flew away and Mei finally spoke.

"I don't think this is a good idea…"

"You said you would talk with me after the game. That was a promise." Yuzu grinned.

"Well—I did, but… I would have rather done that in private," Mei said quietly and the blonde could barely hear her over the noise the crowd was making. Yuzu nodded and gestured they should leave.

The staircase down was still empty and provided a better place for a conversation. "So… I understand if you don't want to come. But I want to go. We can just talk later when I come back."

"I'm not going to discuss this in front of other people."

"I know, it's okay. I feel a bit bad about ditching you like this, are you sure—"

"No, I'm coming. I'm just not going to talk about… _things,_" Mei said and continued walking down the stairs.

Yuzu stopped in her tracks and failed to hide the amazement in her voice. "You're gonna come with us?!"

"Harumi seemed to be OK with me tagging along. You don't want me to be there?" Mei glanced at Yuzu with a strange frown on her face.

"I do! I just thought you weren't coming at all." Yuzu hurried to explain and caught up with her.

"The dorms are going to be loud because we won, it's not like I could get any studying done…" Mei tried to explain the reason behind her actions, but Yuzu was sure this was just an excuse.

_Finally getting somewhere, huh? You just want to spend more time with me… Just admit it, already._

Feeling too afraid she'd get the Head Girl to lock her emotions down again and throw the key to the bottom of the Great Lake, Yuzu decided not to tease her about wanting to come along. She merely studied the nervous signals she was picking up when they reached the grounds and stood waiting while students passed them on their way back to the Castle.

For what felt like only few minutes, Yuzu counted at least a dozen nervous signs when the Head Girl either tucked her hair behind her ear or changed the position of her hands while trying her best to rigidly stand still.

"Okay, I just have to ask. Are you nervous about something?" Yuzu pried and kept studying the strange expressions on the other girl's face.

"Well—I don't really know anyone except our roommate. I'm actually debating if I should just go and study in the library instead" Mei replied with a hesitant look on her face."You'll be fine. I'm glad you decided to come," Yuzu said and gave the most encouraging smile she could muster.

* * *

Harumi finally emerged with a familiar pink haired girl on her tail. They seemed to be having a rather heated conversation and the brunette was clearly agitated. She shot the two girls an apologetic smile.

"Sorry, if I took too long. This brat here stormed into our changing rooms and caused a scene." Harumi gritted her teeth.

"Told you, I'm sorry!" Matsuri tried to defend herself.

"Well, you got the team riled up pretty good. They changed plans, we're not going to Hogsmeade."

"Ah, damn—I really wanted to go," Yuzu said and pouted.

"Oh, _we_ are going, don't worry. The rest of your team, who, by the way, don't have any sense of humor will not be gracing us with their presence." Matsuri sneered.

"Neither will you, if you don't stop mocking my friends like that." Harumi snapped. This was the angriest side Yuzu had seen of her friend so far. She was unsure if she should try to get the two to calm down, though Matsuri seemed mostly pleased with all the mayhem she had managed to create.

_Mei's probably questioning her life decisions right about now…_

"Okay, uh—Could we maybe move towards the gates and talk about this on the way? You're attracting some attention here…" Yuzu gently nudged her head towards the group of students still coming from the pitch who had already formed half a circle around them.

"Maybe I should just—" Mei was clearly hesitating if she should just bail on everyone and head to the library.

"NO!" All three bellowed in unison.

"Please, don't leave me alone with these two." Yuzu begged Mei with puppy eyes. Matsuri chuckled loudly and violently pulled Harumi closer to whisper something in her ear. Harumi seemed to cheer up a bit and nodded.

"Okay, let's go people." Harumi took the lead and headed to the direction of the main gates.

_Oh, I'm screwed. What're they up to now… Maybe this was not such a good idea, after all… Mei sure seems confused about all this. Is it too much to ask for them to act like normal people?_

Matsuri followed Harumi with a wide grin on her face and hung herself on the brunette's arm. Harumi tried to shove her off while Matsuri was still whispering things to her. Yuzu tried to hear what they were talking about but only caught Harumi's loud '_You dungbrain… NO!'. _Mei was already eyeing the two suspiciously and Yuzu felt like she needed to scream at them to shut up and behave.

_Guys, you're gonna drive her away… PLEASE STOP. Why can't you two just be normal?_

Mei followed the others reluctantly. They reached the vibrant small streets of Hogsmeade, packed with other students also enjoying their weekend, before Mei spoke. She tried her best not to be heard by the still bickering couple walking few steps ahead of them. "Are they _together?_"

"Ah, well… I would say '_yes'_, I'm just not sure they know about it, not yet anyway." Yuzu spoke in a quiet manner.

"How can they _not_ know?"

"Would you? Someone pushing your buttons constantly just to get a rise out of you, would you know why?"

Mei stared Yuzu intently for a while. "You're right. I wouldn't."

_What?! I'm not the one sending mixed messages here…_

Yuzu wanted to ask more questions, but they had apparently reached their destination.

"So, Yuzu! Welcome to Hogsmeade. This here is the Three Broomsticks, the only decent watering hole they have around here." Harumi made a grand gesture with her hands while pointing to the small sign outside the door with the name on it.

The Three Broomsticks looked cozy enough and Yuzu felt a warm breeze with wafting scents of food hit her face when they entered the Inn. The place was packed with students, but they managed to find a free table despite the crowd. For the first few days after transferring to Hogwarts, Yuzu had felt homesick but she was slowly getting used to the rustic atmosphere and found herself enjoying the simpler things.

The prospect of finally breaking the ice with Mei was getting Yuzu excited. She barely paid attention to their drink order and just agreed to take whatever everyone else was getting. She was determined not to let Mei feel uncomfortable or left out.

"So, do you come here a lot?" Yuzu directed her question mostly to Mei, though she noticed the quiet snorting sound the pink-haired girl was making across the table.

_I know, I know… Lame._

Mei didn't seem to mind the overly-used conversation starter. "Not so much, I just come to Hogsmeade whenever I'm running out of supplies. We've had a few prefect meetings in this place over the years."

"You were a prefect, then?" Yuzu asked curiously, ignoring the quiet huffs Matsuri was making.

"I was until this year." Mei turned her gaze at Matsuri. "I'm sorry, did I say something amusing?"

"Nah, I'm laughing at the blonde dunderhead here." Matsuri grinned widely. "I thought you'd have better game, Yuzu."

Harumi apparently read Yuzu's mind and punched the younger girl's arm. "Oh, just shut up! You're all talk, yourself. How many girls have you actually managed to seduce while behaving like the world's biggest brat?"

"Both of you, just, please stop." Yuzu buried her head in her hands.

"No, I would also like to know," Mei said suddenly, and all heads turned to her direction.

Yuzu stared at her in awe, this girl managed to get on top of the situation and get Matsuri speechless for what felt like the longest awkward seconds she had ever experienced. It might have taken longer for anyone to speak up if the drinks hadn't arrived and everyone started to dig their pockets for a change.

Harumi cleared her throat. "Excuse her manners. I know for a fact she hasn't had a serious relationship, ever."

"Have _you_?" Mei blatantly asked, way too serious for it to be a joke of any kind. Yuzu faintly remembered their earlier conversation about what Mei thought friends would talk about.

_Is this your way of trying to have a friendly conversation?_

Harumi was nearly choking on her drink and tried to look at Yuzu for help. "W-what?"

"Have you been in a serious relationship?" Mei repeated, still giving everyone the same unsettling feeling.

_Why are you asking these things?!_

"Are you getting off on this or something?" Matsuri asked, clearly amused on the oddity of the whole situation. Mei shot her one of her death glares and the two fell into a silent staring contest.

Yuzu had a sudden urge to change the subject. "Okay… Can we just agree that none of us have experience about relationships and I'm quite sure no one is _getting off_ on this whatsoever…"

"Agreed." Harumi complied quickly.

"Fine with me," Matsuri huffed.

A bitter disappointment was clearly visible on Mei's face and she merely nodded in agreement to end the conversation. As soon as the conversation moved to safer topics such as Quidditch, Mei seemed to lose interest in trying to participate. Yuzu tried her best to include the Head Girl in the conversation but mostly got simple one-word answers to all her questions.

Mei finally excused herself from the table and got up. "Sorry, I'm going to get some supplies and head back."

"I'll come with you," Yuzu said but Mei waved her off.

"No, you should stay here. I'll talk to you later about what I promised."

"Oh, okay. If you're sure you want to go alone?" Yuzu asked and glanced at her friends who were still debating on their favorite Quidditch players.

"Yes. It's fine. I still have a lot of studying to do."

Mei hurried off before Yuzu could protest any further. Harumi was clearly waiting for the Head Girl to get out of earshot before she exploded.

"What was _that_ all about?!" Harumi tried to keep her voice down.

"I don't know…" Yuzu's dropped her head on the table with a loud thump. "I'll ask her later if she's still in the mood for a talk."

"I guess the rumors are true, then. She's a psycho pervert." Matsuri sounded too excited.

"No, she's not. She just… broke?" Yuzu muttered against the table. "Oh, and please… Don't start spreading weird rumors about her, okay?"

"What's in it for me, if I don't?" Matsuri asked mischievously.

"I'll spare your life in our next official match." Harumi was quick to defend Yuzu.

"Not good enough." Matsuri protested and Yuzu lifted her head.

"I'll do anything. Please, don't make this worse than it already is…" Yuzu was getting tired of the whole topic.

"You don't have to give into this, Yuzu. She's just joking. I promise, I'll smack you around if you say a word to anyone." Harumi tried to sound serious.

"Can we just drop this, I can't deal with this right now." Yuzu pleaded.

"Fine. You guys are no fun."

* * *

Yuzu walked back to the Castle with heavy steps. The anxious feeling in her stomach refused to settle down. Harumi dragged her straight to the Great Hall to eat dinner. Yuzu was partially hoping she wouldn't run into the Head Girl before they got back into the dorms but there was still a small part of her that was worried for Mei. What if they all understood the situation really wrong? What if Mei was really just trying to make friends and was just really bad at it? It did seem like Mei wanted to provoke Matsuri and Harumi to say something. Yuzu kept replaying the conversation in her head but it didn't make more sense, no matter how hard she tried to analyze it.

There was still the possibility that Mei wanted to play cupid with the two Chasers and just wanted them to admit the feelings they had. But that option felt the most far-fetched and Yuzu was pretty sure Mei wouldn't care to meddle in other people's love affairs. Yuzu felt like she had been drained all the emotional energy she had for the day and the thought of the serious conversation she was supposed to be having later was making her nauseous.

"Ah, Harumin… I don't think I'm hungry," Yuzu said while her eyes were scanning the crowd sitting at their house table.

"Don't be silly. You need to eat. You said you skipped breakfast too?" Harumi dragged her friend to the table. "She's not here, if that's what you're worried about."

"Not sure. I would have wanted to see her. Make sure she's okay."

"She's a big girl, she can take care of herself. You just worry about getting some grub in you so you won't just drop dead." Harumi tried to be encouraging. "You're too pretty to die."

Yuzu flashed a weak smile and sat down.

* * *

Yuzu was pacing around nervously in the common room. It was getting late and most of the students had given up on the practice game celebrations. Yuzu had been to their dormitory twice to check Mei wasn't there or in the bathrooms. She had mentioned going to the library, so Yuzu decided to wait for her. Her hopelessly bad sense of direction would have probably just gotten her lost if she had tried to find the library on her own. Harumi sat on the couch with a Defense Against the Dark Arts book and pieces of parchment splayed around. She occasionally tried to calm the blonde whilst finishing her homework.

Yuzu stood in front of the couch, ready to start one of her rants again when Harumi kicked her shin lightly and nodded towards the entrance. Yuzu spun around so fast she nearly lost her balance. Her heart felt like it had gotten stuck permanently on her throat.

"Ah, Mei! You're here…" Yuzu took an awkward sidestep to keep her balance before she quickly approached the Head Girl. "Can we uh—talk?"

The familiar nonchalant look on Mei's face was making Yuzu frustrated. She nodded and headed towards the girls' dormitories. Yuzu quietly followed and waved Harumi good night, the brunette mouthed a silent '_Good luck!' _and returned to her unfinished homework.

Their room was empty as ever, Cecilia, their Quidditch team's Seeker was gone so often Yuzu mostly forgot they had a third roommate. Yuzu tried to dial back on her nervous fidgeting. Mei put down her bag and turned to face the blonde.

"So, you want to know why I kissed you again?" Mei asked suddenly.

_Wow, straight to the point… Okay…_

"Uh, well… That too, sure. But also, I would like to know how you're feeling about the conversation we had in Hogsmeade."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Matsuri can be a bit of a pain sometimes. I hope she didn't make you upset and that's why you wanted to leave." Yuzu wasn't sure what approach she should have taken to address the issue despite mulling it over and over in her head for the whole day.

"Oh, that. No. It's fine, you don't have to apologize for her. I left because I got what I came there for." The answer left Yuzu with even more questions.

"And that is…?" Yuzu tried her luck.

"You're not interested in either of them." Mei blurted out. Her expression was still unwavering while Yuzu could feel a tingling sensation in her limbs making them numb.

She tried to form sensible words but barely managed to open her mouth. She stood there with nothing to say. The questions she had previously had suddenly vanished and she forgot what they were supposed to be talking about. She barely registered Mei talking again.

"Don't get me wrong. I've decided I should not form too fond feelings for you. I have important things I need to focus on without getting all of… _this, _to distract me_._"

_Whoa, what?!_

"H-hold it… I need to—let me get this straight." Yuzu found her ability to speak. "You've kissed me, twice, with… feelings? And now you say, before I'm even included in any of this, that you don't want to have any?"

"Yes." Mei replied simply.

"You can't just _decide_ not to have feelings?! You either do or you don't!" Yuzu was getting agitated. "You're talking about this like it is some extra homework you just decide you don't want to do right now?!"

"Not right now, nor later. I don't want to do this at all."

Yuzu stood there mouth gaping for a while, staring intensely at the girl in front of her, trying to find any signs of emotion hidden behind the calm exterior. The anxiety Yuzu experienced got overwhelming as the situation became more and more apparent.

"You're serious… About—"

"Of course, I am. I hope you can respect my decision."

_This is…_

…_not fair._

Yuzu felt _something_ inside of her crumble. It felt strangely empty, but she wasn't sure she even knew what she was missing. She only knew she didn't want to stay there standing like a dumb-ass so she quietly turned around and left the room.

* * *

AN:

Sorry for the cliffhangey ending, Yuzu was not ready (and I was not ready) to deal with the mess here that is Mei-in-denial.

Yuzu's a good girl and will not give up. I promise. :3

Let me know what you think!

Ah, yes, and as a side note the scene in the Three Broomsticks was cringey on purpose and just love how Yuzu fails to notice the reasons behind Mei's actions are mostly driven by jealosy. Hah..


	6. Chapter 6

Yo! Sorry for the long delay. I've not been feeling too good with isolation and writing proved to be a difficult thing for me. I've been feeling a lot better and I promise the next update will not take 84 years.

Cheers,

Nova

.

* * *

Yuzu rushed down the dormitory stairs and was glad to find Harumi still studying in the common area. The brunette lifted her gaze from the books and noticed immediately something was wrong.

"Hey, back so soon. Everything okay?"

"No." Yuzu looked around and saw a few younger students huddled in a corner. "Uh—can we maybe talk somewhere more private?"

"Of course, gimme a second to gather my things." Harumi started to stuff the books in her bag and scooped the rolls of parchment in her hands. "We can go to my room. I'll make sure we can talk in private."

Yuzu nodded and followed Harumi upstairs. The room was similar to Yuzu's but had four people instead of just three. Two of them were there when they walked in and didn't seem to think it was anything strange to see Yuzu tagging along.

"This one's mine. Just make yourself comfortable, I'll be right with you." Harumi pointed at the bed in the far corner and went to put her things away. Yuzu stood next to the bed second guessing if this was a good idea. Pouring her heart out in front of strange classmates wasn't her idea of a private conversation.

Harumi walked closer and gave Yuzu an apologetic smile. "Ah, of course you wouldn't know what I meant. Just jump in, we do this all the time here so nobody will care too much if we disappear here for a while."

Yuzu was just about to ask what Harumi meant with _disappearing_ when the brunette started closing the curtains on the bed posts.

_Ah, that kind of disappearing, gotcha…_

Yuzu helped with the other side's curtains and settled to sit on the bed cross-legged. Harumi followed and closed the last side before sitting across Yuzu.

"I guess nobody told you, but the curtains work as a Quietening Charm, when you close them you can't hear any noise from outside and vice versa." Harumi explained. "Neat trick when you need to get some sleep and others are too loud."

"Or have private conversations," Yuzu sighed. The day had been long as it was and there was still a lot she wanted to talk to Harumi about.

"Or that, yeah… So, what happened?"

"Well, it's a long story, but I guess it all started this morning when I needed to send my mother a letter…" And as Yuzu started to tell the story she did her best not to leave out any details.

* * *

"So, let me get this straight—Mei kissed you in the Owlery, hung around with us because she wanted to make sure you're not dating either of us and then just ended everything, because she has other things on her plate?" Harumi had trouble processing everything.

"Pretty much, yeah." Yuzu hugged Harumi's pillow in her lap.

"She admitted she has feelings, why would she do that—"

"I know, right? It's not fair." Yuzu pouted.

"No, but she also wanted to make sure you were not interested in anyone else. Does she think she still has the right to toy with you whenever she feels like it?"

"I don't think she's doing all this on purpose. She just doesn't know—"

"You're defending her after all this?" Harumi was getting agitated.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to—"

"I'm not angry at you, silly. Mei is the one who needs a reality check." Harumi rested her hand on Yuzu's knee and gave a small encouraging squeeze. "You can stay here tonight if you want to. I can help you get the stuff from your room you need—"

"No, I can go get them myself. I don't think Mei has anything to say to me anymore." Yuzu sighed deeply. After the roller coaster of emotions, she was ready to admit defeat.

_It's not fair. Why does she get to call all the shots here?_

The brunette studied the quiet girl sitting in front of her. "Hey, it's gonna be okay. I'm gonna do everything I can to make you forget you ever had feelings for Mei."

"What is _that_ supposed to mean?" Yuzu looked perplexed.

"We'll find you a rebound or drink ourselves nice in Hogsmeade. We'll find a way." Harumi tried to sound reassuring.

"Thanks, but I don't think I want a rebound or make a fool of myself getting drunk." Yuzu looked at her friend and smiled weakly. "I think I just need some time to wrap my head around all this."

"Well, you can stay here as long as you need to."

"Thanks. Oh, speaking of which, I should probably go and get my things." Yuzu peeked outside of the curtains and was surprised to see some of her things neatly placed on the nightstand. She turned to look at Harumi, confused.

"Oh, I guess the house elves are one step ahead of you. You don't have to tiptoe around your room. Nice." Harumi grinned and emerged from the bed. The others were already sleeping, and the room was lit with only a dim light coming from a big fireplace in the corner.

"You're sure this won't fuel any more rumors?" Yuzu wanted to confirm the invite she got wouldn't make her life more miserable.

"Well, I guess in any normal situation this would be normal, but given there are already _some_ rumors going on, I can't say for sure." Harumi looked thoughtful.

"Ah, never mind. I'll take a few curious looks if that means I don't have to stay with Mei, at least for tonight. You're sure this is OK?"

"Of course, it is. Gimme a sec, I'll come with you to the bathroom. If Mei is lurking somewhere, I'll fight her." The brunette grinned and Yuzu felt grateful she didn't have to ask.

It turned out that Mei was not lurking anywhere, so both girls relaxed and joked about how similar their evening routines were while sharing the bathroom mirror. Yuzu felt lucky she had found a friend like Harumi with whom she could share all the hair and make-up tips with and talk about everything.

They finally found their way back to the dormitory and to their surprise, an extra pillow and a comforter were already in place on the bed.

"Okay I gotta hand it to these house elves, they're really efficient," Yuzu said while crawling under the fresh linens.

"This is fun, though. I've only ever had sleep-overs with Matsuri."

"Oh? Did you sleep on the same bed too?" Yuzu teased.

"No, of course not. She slept on the floor." Harumi was clearly reading Yuzu's subtle hints. "We're not like that, she's more like an annoying little sister than anything else."

"I think you two are really close. I'm not sure if you noticed, but you chose her side today over your teammates'." Yuzu wasn't afraid to bring the subject up. "I've spent enough time around Quidditch players to know that is a huge deal."

"I know. I hate it when she does that." Harumi chuckled quietly, giving away she didn't entirely mean everything she said.

"I wish I had someone like that." Yuzu's thoughts trailed off to her distant stepsister who would definitely not choose Yuzu over anything she held important.

"You can have her if you'd like. I might even pay you a few Galleons if you take her off my hands," Harumi joked.

"Aren't you even a little bit curious, though?" Yuzu found focusing on other people's relationships could be a good distraction she needed right now.

"Curious about what? Matsuri?"

"The way she flirts with anything that moves, that can't be a huge hit with the girls, right?" Yuzu thought of all the snarky comments she had received from Matsuri since enrolling in Hogwarts.

"Oh, you'd be surprised. Maybe it's a Chaser thing. I know she's popular but as far as I know, she's just breaking fangirl hearts left and right. She's a lot of talk and noise but when things get too real, she can't really handle it." Harumi was clearly tired and Yuzu noticed her eyes drooping.

"You must be tired after the game. Sorry, I didn't think—"

"No, it's fine. I'll stay awake as long as you need me to. If you want to talk about you-know-who, that is..." the brunette stated with a serious face.

Mei's nonchalant face drifted back to Yuzu's mind. She was still perplexed how anyone could compartmentalize their feelings like that. A great appreciation of having a friend like Harumi washed over her when she noticed the brunette trying to keep her eyes open, despite being visibly exhausted. "Naw, it's okay. We don't have to do that now, let's just get some sleep. Thank you for helping me with this, it means a lot."

"Mm— anytime. Night, Yuzu." Harumi closed her eyes and gave Yuzu a weak smile before drifting off to sleep.

* * *

Yuzu woke up with a feeling that she had been close to a breakthrough with the whole situation right before falling asleep. There was something she knew she had been overlooking the whole time but she couldn't lay a finger on what it was. It was like an itch in her mind that she couldn't scratch.

Her thoughts drifted to the Head Girl whenever there was a quiet moment. Harumi did her best trying to create distractions whenever she noticed her friend sinking back to her dark place. After breakfast, Matsuri joined and after a quick update she also tried to cheer Yuzu up. It turned out, she was not half bad at it. Yuzu found herself laughing at her stupid jokes on several occasions and spent less time looking over her shoulder for a certain dark-haired individual.

Matsuri even took them on her 'Tour de Delinquents' —as she had called it— and showed them all the hidden secrets she had uncovered in the castle. It was mostly hidden rooms and corridors, with one being a room that Yuzu was sure held all the confiscated items taken from the students. Some of the stuff looked so dangerous, Harumi suggested they'd move on before they set something off and wound up in detention for being where they ought not to have been.

They were the first ones to attend dinner that night. Matsuri sat at the Gryffindor table with them and they ignored the annoyed huffs of their classmates slowly showing up and taking a seat further from their group, trying to make a point that the certain Slytherin was not welcome at their table. Yuzu wrapped her arm around Matsuri.

"I don't care what they think. You're my friend the same as Harumi here. Just ignore them," Yuzu said and smiled encouragingly. Matsuri was trying to hide her distress, but Yuzu had a good eye for things like this.

"You might want to let go of her, though." Harumi lowered her head a bit. She was sitting across the table and had a better view of the students entering the hall. "You-know-who just walked in. She doesn't look too happy."

The jovial mood disappeared in an instant and Yuzu felt the familiar heavy feeling settling in her stomach. For a moment, she hesitated if she should let Matsuri go or not.

"Let her be unhappy. I can hug my friends whenever I want to." Yuzu felt Matsuri inch a bit closer and an arm snaked its way around her waist.

"Hear, hear. She has a point," Matsuri snickered and glanced at Mei.

Harumi shook her head and gave up. "Well, whatever you two are doing, it's working. She's leaving."

"Good riddance. She doesn't deserve this beaut—" Matsuri's sentence was cut off violently with Yuzu's hand shoving her face.

"You just had to make this weird, huh?" Yuzu laughed and pushed Matsuri further. "Take your hormones elsewhere, idiot."

* * *

The dreaded Monday came and Yuzu knew she would have classes with Mei in the afternoon. Eating lunch felt like a mistake when during Charms Yuzu felt so nervous she was sure she was going to get sick. The Head Girl was sitting behind her and she could practically _hear_ her breathing the same air in the classroom.

When the last class of the day was finally over, Yuzu let out the long sigh she had been holding for the past two lessons. Their Defence Against the Dark Arts class had included some hands-on practice and she had been paired with Mei. Practise was to block a nonverbal disarming spell with a nonverbal counter. '_Convenient practise when she's the one person I can't seem to disarm from herself long enough to show her feelings are a good thing.' _Yuzu had thought to herself during the exercise.

The Head Girl had kept her cool the whole time, while Yuzu felt like she wanted to shake the girl to get any reaction out of her. This had been the first time they had shared any interaction since Mei had blatantly told her nothing would ever happen between them. During the class, Yuzu was trying hard to connect with Mei but had failed. As a small comfort, Mei at least seemed to be a little bit distracted. All she could think now was to get out of the classroom as soon as possible and find a void she could scream her lungs into.

Trouble in the form of a pink-haired rascal was loitering outside the classroom when Yuzu was the first to emerge to the hallway, almost running into the younger girl.

"Whoa—where's the fire?" Matsuri stopped Yuzu and grabbed her bicep to slow her down.

"In the classroom, we need to leave. _Now._" Yuzu tried her best to stress the seriousness of the situation but only managed to pique Matsuri's interest. The grip on her arm was firm and Matsuri was eyeing the people leaving the classroom curiously. "Let go of my arm, please. I need to be somewhere else."

"No, you don't. This was your last class of the day." Matsuri gave a small smirk and a nod towards someone behind Yuzu. "She's the one giving you trouble, isn't she?"

Yuzu didn't have to turn around to know Mei was standing behind her in the doorway.

"Don't worry. I got you." Matsuri said in half whisper and leaned closer.

Yuzu felt the life drain out of her when Matsuri pulled her in for a kiss. Not even a very passionate one, more of a spiteful one and she knew the only purpose of the kiss was to provoke the Head Girl. Yuzu had her back to the door the whole time, so she barely had time to imagine the icy cold stare they were receiving when the pink-haired girl was suddenly yanked violently away from her and she breathlessly watched Matsuri fly across the hall in a perfect arc before hitting the wall and sliding down on the floor from the impact.

The ringing in her ears was blocking all the commotion happening around her. Matsuri got back on her feet quickly and Yuzu silently watched her running towards her.

_No... Why are you running_—_ OH! Mei!_

Yuzu shook off the numb feeling and managed to grab Matsuri's robes just before she was about to flung herself at Mei.

"Wait, Matsuri! No!" Yuzu cried out and was surprised she had the strength to keep Matsuri still.

"THE BITCH ATTACKED ME!" Matsuri roared. She still had a wide grin plastered all over her face, as if this was everything she had intended to happen.

The hallway was getting full of students who all wanted to know what the yelling was about. Harumi squeezed through a couple of their classmates that were blocking the doorway to the classroom.

"Seriously, I leave you guys for two seconds and _this_ happens? Matsuri, what did you do?" Harumi kept looking at both of them, waiting for answers.

"She kissed me," Yuzu hissed under her breath.

"And then this crazy bitch attacked me!" Matsuri was still staring at Mei with a manic glint in her eyes. Harumi turned and looked at Mei, waiting for her to say something. Yuzu finally turned enough to see Mei. She expected her to have the icy glare she had been imagining just a few seconds ago but saw the panic written all over her face instead.

"Is this true?" Harumi gave Mei a chance to explain herself.

"I—" Mei looked around and swallowed. The people in the hallway were quietly observing the four. "It's true. I'm... I'm going to get the teacher."

Students stepped aside when Mei turned around to go back to the classroom.

"She's going to turn herself in. This can't get any better." Matsuri was gloating and Yuzu finally released the hold she didn't even notice she still had on the girl.

"Why do you have to make a scene anywhere you go, 'tsuri?" Harumi asked, sounding thoroughly tired.

* * *

Yuzu tried to contain her curiosity in the Headmaster's office. Harumi had been left outside, despite her persuasive attempts to tag along for support. Yuzu would have given anything to have a voice of reason, someone sensible with them.

A quick glance at Mei's direction revealed how nervous she was about this. Almost too nervous, considering this could all just be solved with a simple apology, from both of them. The three of them stood in the middle of the room when the Headmaster finally emerged from a smaller study in the back of the office. Mei swallowed audibly and her knuckles were white from clenching the handle on her school bag too hard.

_Why is she so nervous?_

"So, someone please explain to me what this is about?" The Headmaster spoke with great annoyance. Yuzu was sure he had better things to do than listen to stupid love quarrels of the students. He was an old man with a serious face. Yuzu was glad she hadn't done anything wrong, she wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of the wrath of this man.

Yuzu noticed Matsuri was trying her hardest not to laugh. It looked painful, her face was all red and she was biting her lip so hard Yuzu was sure she'd draw blood soon if she didn't give it a rest.

Mei's voice was quivering when she finally opened her mouth. "I wanted to bring this to your attention, sir. I attacked Matsuri earlier today and I thought the best course of action would be to let you decide what happens now, sir."

"And which one of you is Matsuri?" The old man barely raised his gaze.

Matsuri took a deep breath, she was still trying to suppress her cries of joy. "I am. _Sir._"

Yuzu felt like there was something strange in the air, the way Matsuri emphasized 'sir' as if it was a snarky comment on how Mei was addressing the Headmaster. Yuzu couldn't imagine someone like Matsuri ever speaking so formally.

_What is going on? Both of them are acting strange, even for their standards..._

"I see. Do you have an explanation for this incident?"

Yuzu looked at Mei who looked like she was about to cry and her whole body was trembling. Her mind was clearly going through all possible options she could say in her defence. She opened her mouth more than once trying to say something but no words came out.

"That might be because of me, _sir._" Yuzu cut in after seeing Mei struggle. She felt responsible for dragging Mei into this and knew Matsuri would never admit she started the whole thing. The Headmaster didn't say anything but rather looked at Yuzu after a short awkward silence, expecting Yuzu to continue. "My friend, Matsuri, was fooling around and I asked her to stop. When she didn't, Mei might have misunderstood the situation to be more serious than it was."

The Headmaster kept quiet, Yuzu was getting nervous too and felt the need to explain the situation a bit more. "See, _sir_, this is mostly just young people having feelings for each other and the usual love triangles and drama you probably don't need in your office. Just give us detention, or whatever, and we'll take care of this mess and I promise, you don't have to see us here in your office because of this again—"

"Love triangles?" The Headmaster looked stirn and for a fleeting moment, Yuzu swore she saw a hint of disgust on his face when he put 2 and 1 together with the three girls standing in front of him.

_What an old geezer..._

"No, sir. I don't know what she's—" Mei started to defend herself.

"There's no need to be ashamed, Mei. Everyone is free to have feelings for whoever they want." Yuzu quickly cut in to stand up for what she believed in.

"And who are you, then?" The Headmaster directed his question to Yuzu.

"Yuzu Aihara, sir. I just transferred here."

"Aihara?" The Headmaster seemed to be surprised. Yuzu would have imagined he would know about a transfer student, it wasn't like it happened too often. "So you are Shou's new step-daughter?"

_Okay, not the question I was expecting... What is going on?_

"Uh—yes. I guess you could say that. I didn't know you know Shou, sir."

"He's my son. He wrote to me, mentioned about this new family he has." The look on the Headmaster's face was unreadable.

_Wait... So that makes this man my step-grandfather?!_

"Oh! So we're family!" Yuzu's eyes lit up and she took an eager step forward.

"Yuzu, don't..." Mei begged quietly.

_OH! He's Mei's grandfather too! Of course!_

Matsuri finally failed to stifle her laughter that suddenly rang around the office, replacing the uncomfortable silence. Yuzu could make the almost inaudible _'This is too good...'_ Matsuri repeated under her breath. The whole situation seemed suddenly too bizarre for Yuzu to handle.

"No, we are not family and never will be. My son made a choice not to honor my wishes and left the family. I only read the letter to see if he changed his mind." The Headmaster said with an unwavering tone, as if his son didn't mean anything to him anymore. After a short silence, he apparently had made his mind about something. "All three of you will receive detention. This week's Thursday, 6pm, sharp. Report to the Caretaker's office. Now, if you could leave us, I need to speak to my granddaughter in private. Dismissed."

Yuzu stared at the man in disbelief and was interrupted when Matsuri grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the office. When they were finally back in the hallway, Harumi rushed to talk to them. Matsuri was laughing uncontrollably while banging the wall with her fist.

"So?" The brunette asked impatiently. "Where's Mei?"

"They need a family moment, blondie outed her to ," Matsuri managed to say in the midst of her laughing fit.

"You did what?!" Harumi turned to Yuzu.

"I—I didn't know they were related!" Yuzu said and felt a tight knot slowly closing her throat. "A little warning would have been nice!"

_Fuck... She's going to hate me now, if she ever gets out of that office alive._

"This almost makes up for the fact that the detention with the Caretaker is going to be a huge bore." Matsuri seemed more pleased with herself than Yuzu had ever witnessed before.

"Harumi, can you get this ghoul out of here? I need to wait for Mei and apologize." Yuzu took a long breath and noticed the worried arch formed on her friend's brow. "I'll be fine. I'll see you at dinner, okay?"

"Fine. But you better show up or our classmates will eat me alive for gossip. And I will come back and haunt you." Harumi reluctantly dragged Matsuri down the hallway.

Yuzu paced around for what felt like an hour, going through different scenarios in her head of what was going on in the office and how angry Mei would be when she would emerge. No scenario she anticipated would be a preferable one, in none of those would Mei simply forgive her for throwing her to the wolves like that. She kept cursing her big mouth and her strange need to fight other people's battles. Not to mention fighting the wrong battles and being ignorant of the whole picture that was at play.

_Well, it's not my fault nobody told me they were related. Also not my fault Matsuri just decided to piss her off just when we had spent a full hour and a half practising the same spells she probably ended up using on her. Would she have reacted differently if we had been in any other class instead? Why did she snap like that? Does she still have feelings for me? ...of course, she does. Nobody gets over feelings this fast. _

The spiral staircase finally started to move and Yuzu waited until she saw the familiar face. Her eyes were red and puffed and Yuzu had a sudden urge to go and hug her but knew better not to.

"Uh—I just wanted to say how sorry I am… I had no idea—"

"Don't." Mei said and walked past the blonde. "I'm sorry I nearly blew up your girlfriend, I don't know what came into me."

"No, that's okay. She just wanted to—"

"I'm not done yet. I need you to know that _this_, whatever this was, I will not let it get between me and my goals. I'm lucky that grandfather didn't feel the need to take away my Head Girl rights."

Yuzu felt the same urge to scream she had earlier. "Your goals or _his?_"

"What?" Mei stopped, clearly conflicted but as Yuzu noticed the group of students approaching from the other end of the corridor, it could have just been because Mei didn't want to be seen like this.

"You don't talk to me so I don't know what is going on with you. But you don't seem happy. After hearing about Shou and your grandfather, I'm starting to think this is not what _you_ want. You want to be with me, don't you?" Yuzu tried her best to understand why Mei was acting so strange. "But you can't. Because your grandfather would disown you like he did to your father. It doesn't have to be so black and white, you could just have both."

"No. You don't know what this is like. Don't think you have me all figured out because you've spent two hours with me. _I_ chose this. This has nothing to do with you." Mei looked like she was on the verge of tears again. "Just stay away from me, please. I can't deal with this right now."

With that, Mei strode off with quick steps and left Yuzu standing in the corridor alone with an even bigger urge to lash out and scream. Never in her life had she had someone who would manage to make her so furious, while she also felt like this person was in a dire need of a hug or two.

* * *

AN: I'd like to thank Sappho82 for doing the beta reads for this story. And yes, the slowburn must end soon. :P


	7. Chapter 7

_Eyyy... _I'm back. So soon. Sorry not sorry. The way my fingers are itching for the next, I might have the chapter 8 in the works soon too. I can't give a schedule, tho someone asked. My work includes a lot of writing too at the moment so it's a strange situation. Might pull a muscle or two in my brain from all this writing. Or get into a more permanent flow, who knows... I know I don't.

NEEWAYS, here's the chapter. And Sappho soldiered another great beta for this. Thankssss!

Cheers,

Nova

.

* * *

_I made a promise not to give up. Even with everything that has happened, I shouldn't just stop trying. She still feels something for me. I think I will just—_

"Yuzu!" Harumi asked and elbowed her friend right between the ribs hard enough to get her attention. "Did you hear a word I just said?"

"Ah, sorry, Harumin... I wasn't listening." Yuzu admitted apologetically.

"I said maybe it's better if I tag along tonight for the detention. Seems your head is somewhere in the clouds again." Harumi shook her head.

"No, we will be fine." Yuzu smiled and eyed the empty parchment in her lap. They were supposed to be doing their homework, both of them had a free period in the afternoon. "You just go take care of your Quidditch practise, wouldn't want you to miss that because of me."

"You haven't written a single word down on your essay, which —let me remind you— is due next Monday."

"I know, I know. I can finish it during the weekend. I just can't stop thinking about—well, you know..."

"Yuzu... If this is still about the '_Not gonna give up!' _mantra you've had for the past couple days, I swear—" Harumi felt helpless with Yuzu's need to fix something that she wasn't sure was even broken. "I just don't want you to get hurt again."

"You don't have to worry about me. There's just something I know I'm missing and I feel like talking to Mei will help me understand what that is," Yuzu pondered while scribbling idly on the corner of her parchment.

"Just be careful. She's proven to be a bit... unpredictable." Harumin tried to phrase Matsuri's '_Crazy Raving Bitch'_ in a nicer format.

* * *

Yuzu straightened up a bit when she noticed the dark-haired girl already standing outside the Caretaker's office. The gloating smirk on Yuzu's companion hadn't faded and Matsuri was looking pleased as ever, despite the looming prospect of a boring detention ahead of them.

Their arrival was unsurprisingly ignored and Mei kept avoiding eye-contact. Yuzu still couldn't help feeling cheerful about spending time with the Head Girl. She had somehow managed to slip away like an eel from all occasions Yuzu had wished to speak to her after the encounter and the Headmaster's office. She also hoped Matsuri would have enough sense to not incite Mei's explosive side any further. Her last provocation landed them in detention, after all.

"Hi!" Yuzu started with a cheerful tone. "I hope we're not late." She knew they weren't but felt like she had to say something.

Only barely noticeable reaction was a slight shift in Mei's posture and she kept her eyes fixed on the Caretaker's door. The cold atmosphere almost made Yuzu shiver. She decided to stay cheerful.

"I wonder what detention is like. I never got into any trouble in my old school, but I heard they had to write lines or essays—"

"Hah! Essays? Last time I was in detention he had me scrubbing the toilets on the third floor," Matsuri scoffed.

_I wasn't talking to you, Matsuri. Let her speak..._

Yuzu's silent wish of Matsuri shutting up was not met.

"The lazy oaf just dumps all his workload on students. He's probably picking his nose in his office as we speak."

"Lazy oaf, huh?" An amused voice spoke out that made Yuzu jump. Nobody had noticed the Caretaker appear behind them. "What have you done this time, Mizusawa?"

"I didn't—OUCH!" Matsuri was cut off by Yuzu's elbow sinking into her ribs, painfully and abruptly.

"Innocent as always, then." The Caretaker laughed heartily. He was a kind-looking man in his 30s with a long beard and messy hair. Yuzu had to admit Matsuri was at least a little bit right, his whole appearance did scream _lazy_ if anything. "Sorry to disappoint you, though. Toilets are well scrubbed, there's something else we need to take care of tonight. You're all old and skilled enough so I can trust you with this."

Mei simply nodded and Yuzu wasn't sure what she should say. The Caretaker opened the office door with a large old key and gestured to everyone to step inside. A highly astringent stench hit their nostrils the second they entered the small room.

"Wow, dude. This is disgusting, even for your standards." Matsuri said and held her breath.

"Dragon urine. _Female_ dragon urine, to be exact." The Caretaker spoke as if this was an everyday ordeal to store smelly things in their office.

"I had no idea you were into such things..." Matsuri kept teasing him. The Caretaker shrugged the comments off with a mere laugh.

The smell was getting too much for Yuzu and she raised a sleeve in front of her nose, hoping it would dampen it even a bit. The air in the room was stinging her eyes too.

_How can anyone work in this stench..._

"Good thing _I _won't be the one handling these tonight. The honor is all yours, my dear misbehaving misfits." He pointed at multiple phials filled with deep red liquid in them.

"You can't be serious... What do we have to do with these?" Matsuri asked half-terrified.

"Oh, you'll see," the man said with a wink. "Now, just grab a warm robe from the closet. It's getting chilly outside."

Matsuri opened the closet so casually that Yuzu was sure this was not her first time doing detention outdoors. They were all in a hurry to get out of the office and Yuzu grabbed the first robe that didn't look kid-sized and threw it on. It was slightly too large, the hem was touching the ground but she was already starting to feel sick and didn't care to change it.

The smell was clearly starting to affect the Caretaker as well, he hurriedly grabbed the two buckets containing the phials and darted out of the door. "Well, all of you, just follow me. Close the door, blondie."

"Yuzu," all three spoke out loud and Yuzu and Matsuri shot a curious look at Mei's direction. Once in the corridor, the Caretaker took a better look at the students lined up in front of him.

"Her name is Yuzu, sir," Mei said quietly but was still avoiding eye-contact with anyone.

"Sir? No need to be so formal. Sorry, I didn't mean to offend anyone. I'm just bad at remembering names, there's too many of you anyway. Students, I mean." The Caretaker was getting anxious. He took another look at Mei. "Aren't you the Headmaster's granddaughter? What are you doing in detention?"

"That'd be our fault," Yuzu added quickly, worried Mei might feel cornered.

"Figures. Well, you two rascals can carry the buckets then. Here." The Caretaker shoved the buckets in front of him and they grabbed them reluctantly.

"We're just doing your dirty work here again, aren't we?" Matsuri huffed.

* * *

"We're seriously going to the forest to spray this around?" Matsuri eyed the forest while trying to keep up with the Caretaker's hurried steps.

"Yup." He walked slightly faster. "Could you keep a safe distance so I don't have to smell that."

Overall, the man's childish behavior convinced Yuzu even more of the fact that he was a no-good slacker. They eventually reached the edge of the forest. Yuzu had felt the aura of danger from the first time they had gotten close to the Forbidden Forest and Harumi had explained what it was. Standing on the edge of it didn't make it seem less scary. _'Huge spiders, bigger than you'_ Harumi had told Yuzu when she had asked what kind of creatures she meant.

_I hate spiders._

"Won't spraying this dragon piss around lure something even more dangerous to us?!" Matsuri asked and failed to hide her panic.

"No, it's repelling them." Mei hurriedly answered as if this was a lesson and she had to score points with the teacher. "There's a dragon in the forest?"

"Bingo. Should have figured you're the smart one. Someone in the village sighted one last week. _A full-grown male dragon._" Something in the Caretaker's voice sounded almost like he was in awe of the presence of such a creature.

"You're throwing us to _dragons_?!" Matsuri cried.

"You're good, as long as you have the phials." The Caretaker smirked at the sight of Matsuri suddenly raising the bucket in her arms as if her life depended on it. It probably did. "Very territorial things, dragons. And the males avoid entering female dragons' territories. Hence, the urine."

"You're hoping it would leave if we sprinkle this all over the forest?" Yuzu asked curiously.

"Well, let's hope it will stay out of the school grounds at least..."

"Hope? So, there's a chance some of us are dragon food tonight?" Matsuri's face was white as a sheet.

"I trust the dragonologists sent us samples from a female dragon that was _not_ in their heat cycle." The Caretaker smiled encouragingly. "Okay, then. Let's split up. I'll take the little menace here with me, you blond—Sorry... Yuzu, wasn't it? You go with the smart one."

_Perfect. Well... except for the dragon urine I have to carry around. Might be slightly off-putting._

Mei seemed unaffected by the idea and simply nodded again.

"We go left, you go right. About as much so you can still see the edge of the forest and don't get lost. Don't touch the stuff with your hands. The stink will stay for weeks. You'll be a walking dragon repellant, sure, but also an effective human repellant." The Caretaker laughed at his own joke but got serious after noticing nobody else was laughing. "Right... You two just keep walking till you reach the side of the lake. Break one phial within about 20 to 25 steps."

"What should we do with the phials after we're done?" Mei asked.

"I don't care. Bury them in the lake if you want to. I don't want them back in my office. Or the buckets."

Yuzu watched the Caretaker disappear into the forest with Matsuri who was still holding the bucket with care.

"So... I guess we need to get going too," Yuzu asked nervously and glanced at Mei's direction.

"I really am sorry I got us into this mess," Mei apologized and for the first time that night, lifted her gaze to meet with Yuzu's.

"It's okay. Well—aside from the spiders." Yuzu kept eyeing the forest for the infamous spiders.

"What spiders?" Mei asked while searching her robes for something.

"The huge ones that Harumi warned me about. The human-sized ones."

"Oh, the acromantulas live somewhere deep within the forest. We won't run into those, I'm sure." Mei dug her wand from her pocket. "_Lumos._"

"If you're sure..." Yuzu followed Mei to the forest, hurriedly looking for her own wand with her free hand. An uneasy feeling was settling in her stomach and it wasn't because of the faint stench of dragon urine. This was the first time _ever_ she was alone with the skills she had learned during all her years in school. They'd had controlled encounters with various creatures but the teacher was always there. It had been a bright classroom or an open field outside, not a dark ominous forest during dusk hours. The feeling of the cool polished wood in her fingertips made her feel slightly better, if only a little bit. She followed Mei's example. "_Lumos._"

After a few silent steps Mei apparently noticed Yuzu's head spinning around. "Are you nervous we run into something?"

"Of course," Yuzu lowered her voice to whisper as if to avoid disturbing the forest.

"You won't find monsters with two steps into the forest, stop worrying." Mei tried to sound convincing but her hand held the luminating wand tighter than usual. "And most creatures will run away when they hear sounds, anyway."

"Most... So, the biggest and scariest wont?"

"Probably not. But those creatures live deeper in the forest, so we should still be fine." Mei glanced behind her shoulder to see how far they had ventured. "This is far enough, let's break the first one here and continue towards the lake."

"You can do the honors, I'll keep the light on," Yuzu whispered, a bit louder this time and watched Mei's wandwork when she carefully incantated _'Wingardium Leviosa'_ and a phial flew out of the bucket to a safe distance from them before she popped it with another careful spell. She levitated the broken phial pieces back to the bucket. "He did say we can just bury them."

"I know. But I don't want broken pieces of glass lying around in the forest. We'll be hunting injured thestrals next..."

"What are thestrals?" Yuzu asked and nervously glanced around for said mysterious creatures.

Mei chuckled at the absurd situation. "They're these big horse-like creatures with wings. But you probably wouldn't be able to see them anyway. And they're not that dangerous, you don't have to stay on alert for them."

"The ones they had pulling the carriages when we arrived at the school?" Yuzu asked, remembering such creatures from her first day.

"You can see them?" Mei raised her voice in amazement and it made something scurry off from the trees above them.

"Please, keep your voice down." Yuzu nervously looked up and realized she hadn't paid attention to anything _above_ them. "But yes, I can see them. Is that weird?"

"Well, no. Sad, if anything. So, you've seen someone die?" Mei asked with a serious tone.

"Yes, I have. Why do you ask?"

"That's how you see the thestrals, after you witness someone die. But who was it?" Mei pried.

"Oh, that's why I see them? Kind of interesting, actually." Yuzu was surprised, Care of Magical Creatures was a class they didn't have in Ilvermorny that she had noticed in the list of subjects when she went through her options.

"You don't have to talk about it, if you don't want to." Mei hurried to say when she didn't get an answer.

"No, it's okay. I saw my dad die on the hospital bed. He was poisoned during a work assignment for the Ministry. They couldn't find a cure in time." Yuzu explained. "I was only 3 years old so I barely remember him at all. I just remember how sad Mama was all the time."

"I'm sorry. I didn't know." Mei looked gloomy. "And I laughed at you for not knowing what thestrals are, I'm so sorry."

"No, don't worry about it. You didn't know." Yuzu tried to cheer Mei up. "I had a happy childhood with just Mama and me. No need to feel sorry, really."

"I really shouldn't have—"

"It's okay. But hey, at least I would be useful hunting the thestrals down," Yuzu grinned and tried to assure she was indeed OK.

"Oh, right... Well, let's hope we don't have to. That would probably be a task for the next unfortunate people landing in detention anyway. I don't plan to do this again."

"Me neither. If anything, I'll make sure to follow every rule by the book if we survive this." Yuzu thought she saw something moving in the corner of her eye and flinched.

_Please, tell me that was just a bird..._

"We'll be fine."

* * *

After fifty-something phials, the forest was getting really dark. The dusk had settled to what would have been a nice starry night but the trees blocked most of them. Yuzu wasn't sure if it was something about the Forbidden Forest or the bright lights in their wand tips that made the rest of the darkness seem even darker.

"I think we need to move closer to the edge, I'm not sure if I still see it or is it just the light playing tricks with my eyes." Mei said and tried to point her wand to her right side and spot where the trees ended.

"Why would they want us to do this in the dark?" Yuzu asked and shivered at the thought of everything looming in the shadows her wand was casting its eerie blue light at.

"I think the Caretaker didn't think it would get so dark so soon. This is unusual anyway, sending students to the forest. I mean, I've heard stories of people disappearing here for days—"

"Don't say that!" Yuzu squaked. "We're just a few steps from the grounds, right?"

"Hmm, I think so. Maybe we should check just to make sure." Mei was just about to turn and head away when they heard a loud growling noise coming from what they assumed was the deeper forest. Yuzu's heart jumped to her throat and she froze, unable to decide if she should stay as still as possible or run for her life.

"Did you—"

"Yes." Mei was quick and grabbed Yuzu's arm and pulled her closer. "If that was the dragon, we might have to break a phial or two on our robes."

"You mean the walking repellants the Caretaker mentioned before? I don't want to smell like dragon piss-"

"You don't want to die either, do you?" Mei was surprisingly calm.

"You have to ask?" Yuzu's pitch was an octave higher than usual. "No. I do not."

Sure enough, as they stood still for a moment a variety of noises amplified and something _was_ creeping closer. A huge head emerged between the trees sniffing the air curiously. Mei seemed to sense Yuzu was in no condition to react to the situation in any way so she stepped slightly in front of her.

"It's a Welsh Green. I've never seen one, but the markings match," Mei whispered.

"I don't care what it's called. It's a dragon. This is a dragon. _A freaking grown-ass dragon._ Mei, please. We need to run." Yuzu whispered as quietly as she could.

"No, whatever you do, don't run. It's probably just curious about the scent of the female dragon. Leave the bucket and back down. _Slowly._" Mei seemed to be in control of the situation and Yuzu obediently lowered the bucket on the ground and it toppled over, spilling the rest of the phials on the ground.

"Shit... sorry," Yuzu cursed quietly and took a step backwards. She noticed a small tug on her back and realized she had stepped on her oversized robe. It was too late, she lost her balance and fell down.

"_What are you doing?!_" Mei cried with a loud whisper. The dragon in front of them leaped forward towards them. It was so close that Yuzu could feel its hot breath breezing in her ankles when it examined the contents of the bucket. Mei was trying to help Yuzu up and fumbled for the arm holding the wand, the light source was swinging wildly in the dark.

"Break the phials!" Yuzu pleaded. She had no idea if the dragon would respect the faux-territory of the female dragon they were trying so hard to create or would the prospect of evening snack in the form of two young witches be more tempting. She had no option but to place her hopes on the Caretaker and trust the phials would work.

Yuzu kept stumbling on her robe while Mei was dragging her along, trying to help her up. She noticed quickly her efforts were fruitless so she threw on her hood and commanded Yuzu to do the same while ducking down on top of her. "_BOMBARDA!_"

Pungent smell of urine spread from the phials that were blasted open violently. Yuzu realized immediately why getting covered under the robes was necessary. She was sure they were covered in it too.

"Take off the robe, quickly!" Mei was already undressing the borrowed robe. Yuzu noticed the dragon shaking its head, probably covered in the stuff too. She kept her eyes fixed in the dragon, just to make sure it wasn't charging at them while tugging down the sleeves. She was still laying on top of the robe and it proved to be a painfully slow process. She felt Mei's hands fumbling around, helping with the robe.

The dragon whined in a high-pitched cry, small puffs of fiery breath were shooting in all directions, all of them missing the two girls by sheer chance of luck. It clearly did not like the smell of urine and the possible shards of glass that landed on its face.

Before she had time to register what was happening, she was back on her feet and hurriedly being dragged to the edge of the forest. "Turn off the light!"

"_Nox._ You said no running!"

"Let's hope it doesn't see well in the dark... I think I see the edge of the grounds, just a little bit more. C'mon!" Mei was still dragging Yuzu along who was trying her best not to trip over again in the pitch black darkness. At times, the faint red glow of the dragon's breath illuminated the path but it was fading. Either they were getting further or the dragon was retreating to the opposite direction.

_This better be the right direction or we're done for..._

Yuzu saw it too then, the lights of the Hogwarts castle far in the background and a large patch of green grass. She hurried her pace and was too afraid to look back. Mei slowed down when they had taken a safe distance from the trees and collapsed on the grass.

"Hey, you okay?" Yuzu worried and sat next to Mei. After making sure nothing was following them from the forest, she turned back to the other girl, who looked strange grinning from ear to ear.

"Yeah... That was awesome!" Mei said, staring at the sky. "My heart is still racing!"

Yuzu let out a long sigh before joining Mei down on the field. "You're insane, you know."

"Oh, most probably, yes." Mei laughed. Yuzu had never heard her laughing like that. Until this day, she had been sure that was not a thing this particular Head Girl would do. Ever.

_Completely, utterly, adorable. Harumi was right, I'm screwed, again._

Yuzu grabbed Mei's hand and squeezed. "Thanks for saving me back there. I felt so hopeless, I don't know what I would've done if it wasn't for your stone cold nerves—"

"You told me to break the phials, that was quick thinking too."

"Yeah, I don't know what came into me." Yuzu chuckled. "You think the phials actually worked? The whole territorial thing?"

"In theory, it should. But I don't know... Maybe he just had to check. Like dogs do when they sniff each other's butts."

Yuzu turned her head on her side to see Mei, who was still grinning. "Did you just talk about dog butts? Are you sure you're okay?"

Mei turned her head and stared into Yuzu's eyes. "Yes. Do you want to know what was the first thing I thought while I thought we might possibly die in the next few seconds?"

"Mm?" Yuzu held her breath. She had a faint idea where the conversation was going.

"_You._ I was afraid I would lose you. I was worried for _you."_

_"__Me?"_ Yuzu's words got stuck in her throat resulting in a small coughing fit.

_So I was right? Where's Harumi when you need to gloat in her face? Worried for me, huh..._

Mei nodded and stared at Yuzu for a while. Her cheerful expression turned to something deeply troubled. "Would you—uh... Would you come back to our room? _Please._"

"Hmm, tempting offer... So, all it took was an encounter with a dragon?" Yuzu smiled.

"I don't know why I can't get you out of my head. It's been a lot worse since you left. Believe me, I tried. But I think I just went a little crazy there, staring at your empty bed every night."

"Oh, you think? How often do you attack other students?" Yuzu meant to tease Mei playfully but the response was not as amused as she hoped. Mei's expression went from worried to sad.

"So, you two are a thing then?" Mei asked quietly.

"Oh, dear. No. Have you met Matsuri?" Yuzu laughed and rolled on her side and hoisted herself up on her elbow. There, looming on top of the Head Girl, she could almost see the inner struggle of years trying to live up to expectations of others but now finally, maybe, realizing what she might want for herself. A small hopeful smile danced on Mei's lips.

"She's a bit... impertinent," Mei admitted.

"A bit? Naw, I'm only joking, though. She has also been a good friend to me." Yuzu smiled and stared at Mei curiously. When Mei reached out to tuck a strand of loose blond hair from her face it got Yuzu's nerves lit up white with tingling electricity.

"But this... You... you are perfect. And I have never seen anything so beautiful before," Mei said and her eyes were glued on Yuzu. "I'm sorry, I've caused you so much trouble—"

Yuzu's head was filled with all kinds of fuzziness from the previous adrenaline and the nerve-tingling aftermath. She barely heard what Mei was saying after calling her beautiful. Without thinking about it too much, she swooped down and landed a kiss on her lips. It took Mei by surprise but she recovered quickly and returned the kiss, wrapped her arms around Yuzu and pulled her closer.

_We're kissing under the stars. After she saved me from nearly getting killed... It can't get more romantic than this..._

_Holy hecking dragons, I'm kissing Mei under the stars..._

_She's kissing me back..._

_...And I don't want this moment to end._

_Ever._

* * *

AN: So... I couldn't write this without including some Hogwarts-style adventures. And while the chapter plan has now flown out of the window, I feel like I'm liking this free-form a bit more. There's no Hogwarts without some critters and danger. Or Citrus without drama. I'm trying to find a nice balance. Getting there... maybe. Leave a review if you have enjoyed this so far, or haven't(what are you doing in chapter 7, if that is the case...). -Nova


End file.
